Academies face constant risks of fraud, theft and irregularity with regard to public funds. Fraud is described as deception carried out in order to gain an unfair advantage. For Academies, the main risk of fraud is the misuse of funds and resources.
Other common types of fraud include theft, credit card fraud and falsification of invoices which have increased over the years due to the rise in cybercrime.
Trusts should be vigilant and pre-emptive with regards to cyber security arrangements. The ESFA have published a guide that can be used as a checklist for trusts when considering cyber security and the risks of cybercrime.
More information regarding cybercrime and cyber security can be found here.
By now, trusts should have considered their admission arrangements for entries in September 2020. This should be published on their website by no later than 15th March, 2019 with a copy sent to their local authority.
The ESFA is responsible for providing assurance in respect of the financial governance of the academies sector. Following their recent review, they highlighted a number of areas that academies should consider in order to improve the quality of their financial governance. More information can be found on the gov.uk website.
Of the areas highlighted, it was noted that the main reasons for modified regularity opinions were:
Non-compliant procurement practices
Weak internal control arrangements
Inadequate financial management and reporting arrangements
Forrester Boyd offer an internal review service for academies to support meeting their responsibilities for risk management, robust internal financial controls and the efficient use of resources.
Please contact us if you require any further information on the services we offer.
All data and figures referred to in our news section are correct at the date of publishing and should not be relied upon as still current.
