Public Sector - Internal Audit
Our Public Sector Internal Audit team are experts in delivering internal audit services to NHS, central government and local government organisations.
All of our team have either worked for public sector organisations or chosen to specialise in public sector internal audits at BDO. We provide fully outsourced or co-sourced internal audit for NHS and local government organisations as well as independent service reviews of internal audit functions.
Our team adapts to the needs of each organisation based on its local challenges and strategies. We see our role as internal auditors being an integral part of helping our public sector clients to succeed in delivering their business objectives. We are proud of the consistently high client satisfaction ratings we receive.
We are ISO 9001 accredited for internal audit and also have independent verification of our compliance with Public Sector Internal Audit Standards.
Our approach to public sector internal audit
Public Sector organisations are under financial and regulatory pressure. There are demands to deliver improvements and integrated working between health organisations and social care. The evolution of the integrated care systems for organisations in the health and care to work in place-based partnerships to commission and deliver system change have challenged organisations.
In recent years councils have completed full assessments of their services and taken action through organisational restructures to develop more efficient and lean organisations. Many councils have now exhausted their options and see increasing pressures in demand, ageing populations and significant financial pressures with the end of central government funding. The rise in commercial activity and transformation programmes present new difficulties but also opportunities.
We help our clients meet these demands by preparing “assurance maps”. These help them understand their risk profile and set strategic priorities for risk management. Our experienced internal audit team advise on industry-wide or emerging risk areas and devise a strategic audit plan that is genuinely aligned to organisational objectives. BDO’s team is always monitoring changing risk priorities or risk incidents which may result in plans being updated and urgent issues escalated to senior management or the Board.
Our public sector internal auditors regularly work with a number of other teams to provide our clients with a seamless service:
- Public Sector Consulting - Providing business case advisory, income generation support and evaluation, financial performance improvement, leadership and governance advice and health and social care integration support
- Infrastructure Advisory - Supporting public sector clients to deliver infrastructure projects such as housing, hospital estates development, emergency services, education
- Financial Model Assurance and Advisory Services - Working with public sector clients to evaluate financial models for critical projects
- Forensic Advisory - Swift, discreet and detailed counter-fraud investigations for clients where ‘red flags’ have been raised regarding financial or other irregularities
- Technology Risk Advisory - Complete suite of services from a team experienced in all aspects of IT security and cyber risk management