ST HELENA GOVERNMENT

TERMS OF REFERENCE

SENIOR INTERNAL AUDITOR

Date: April 2017

  1. Background
  2. The island of St Helena is an internally self-governing Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom located in the South Atlantic approximately 4,000 miles from the UK. The Government comprises a Governor (who is appointed by the Crown) an Executive Council, which has the general control and direction of Government, and a Legislative Council. The Governor retains responsibility for internal security, external affairs, defence, the public service, finance and shipping.
  3. The island’s population is around 4,500 and it has a typical small island economy with a high import dependency, a narrow economic base, a large public sector (around 790 staff), and significant outward labour migration. St Helena receives UK Government financial assistance to support recurrent and capital expenditure as part of their obligation to ensure that the reasonable needs of the population are met.
  4. The overall vision of the St Helena Government (SHG) is

“Strengthened community and family life through vibrant economic growth, with opportunities for all to participate, within a framework of effective government and law.”

1.4To support this vision there are three National Goals:

A vibrant economy providing opportunities for all to participate

Strong community and family life

Effective management of the environment

1.5A new vision and mission has been agreed for the Public Service, which will be incorporated in future plans and strategies:

Vision – A great place to work and serve the people of St Helena

Mission – Provide Services that are responsive to the needs and expectations of the people of St Helena, by taking account of their views in decisions on the design, delivery and performance of services, and by working with our colleagues to create an environment that encourages everyone to do their best.

1.6In November 2011 Her Majesty’s Government agreed to fund an airport. Construction is complete and the airport has been certified, but there has been a delay in terms of the airport becoming operational and regular flights are therefore not yet available.

1.7SHG is embedding a change programme that will enable the Public Service to improve its delivery of the government’s developmental objectives. Achievement of the Goals and Strategic Objectives will require sound management and transformation of the public sector to make it a professional, modern, and flexible organisation able to initiate and respond to change. Central to this programme has been the re-structuring of Government functions and directorates. There are currently five directorates reporting to the Chief Secretary who is the head of the Service; Education, Health, Safeguarding, Environment & Natural Resources and Corporate Services. The Police Service reports to the Governor.

  1. Key Objectives
  2. The Internal Audit team is responsible for providing independent and objective assurance to the Governor, Audit Committee and Chief Secretary on SHG’s systems of internal controls, corporate governance and risk management.
  3. The Senior Internal Auditor will be responsible for delivering selected internal audit assignments from the agreed Internal Audit plan in addition to supporting the Head of Internal Audit in developing the Internal Audit team to be a forward-looking and valuable part of St Helena Government. The Senior Internal Auditor will also be required to deputise for the Head of Internal Audit during periods of absence.
  4. Scope of Work
  5. The duties of the Senior Internal Auditorshall include, but not be limited to, the following:

Take the lead on selected internal audit assignments from the agreed internal audit plan.

Assist in, or carry out, ad hoc investigations which might include (but not be limited to) fraud or HR-related investigations

Assist in the development of internal audit training within SHG.

Assist in the personal development of internal audit team members, and in the overall development of the Internal Audit team

Assist the Head of Internal Audit in establishing good working relationships within SHG to understand current issues, recognise relevant areas of concern and react according to changing needs and priorities by identifying areas for improvement.

Report to the Audit Committee at the required intervals on selected Internal Audit assignments including planned reviews, investigations, risk advisory work and any other ad-hoc activity as required and agreed with the Head of Internal Audit.

Hold direct reports accountable for managing and developing their assignments to ensure the Internal Audit Office goals are achieved and customers satisfied.

Assist in training local staff with the aim of developing the capacity towards having a fully qualified local internal audit team in the future.

As agreed with the Head of Internal Audit, provide consultative support to SHG in areas of corporate governance, risk management and internal controls and any other issues concerning them. This might include:

Active participation in working groups;

Review of new systems and processes; and

Providing promotional materials, training and presentations.

Be responsible for the existing processes for monitoring and reporting progress made by management in implementing recommendations and agreed deadlines in accordance with agreed deadlines and protocols.

Deputise for the Head of Internal during any periods of absence off-island.

3.2The Senior Internal Auditor is required to provide advice and guidance to the Internal Auditors on the assignments carried out, and - where there are complex and sensitive issues (in conjunction with the Head of Internal Audit), provide viable options and long term solutions.

3.3The Senior Internal Auditor will need to adhere to the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS)

3.4This terms of referencedoes not include an exhaustive list of duties and responsibilities. There may be other ad hoc duties that fall within the remit of the role that the job holder may need to complete. In addition, the job holder will be required to carry out any other reasonable duties as requested which are commensurate with the grading and level of responsibility for the role.

  1. Qualifications and experience
  2. It is essential that theSenior Internal Auditorhas the following:
  3. Education/Qualifications

The Senior Internal Auditor should be part qualified to Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) paper 1 standard (or equivalent) and will be expected to continue studying towards the full qualification whilst in post.

4.3Knowledge and Experience

At least 3 years’ previous experience in internal audit, preferably in a public sector environment

4.4Skills/Ability

Good IT skills and proficient in Microsoft applications

Good written skills required to formally document findings from Special Investigations and produce audit reports that clearly state the findings, weaknesses, recommendations and lessons learnt

Excellent interviewing and negotiating skills

Good project planning and management skills

Excellent people management skills with the ability to relate to all levels across SHG

Excellent time management and organisational skills

Excellent financial management skills

Excellent interpersonal and verbal communication skills

4.5Person Attributes:

Self-motivated

Excellent and effective team player

Ability to apply objective judgement and use initiative

Effective strategic thinking

Responsive to change

An innovative and creative approach to problem solving

Able to maintain confidentiality and deal with sensitive issues appropriately

  1. Competencies
  2. Under the SHG Competency framework, this post holder is required to have the competencies as outlined in the attached annex.
  3. Outputs, Timing and Reporting
  4. The Senior Internal Auditor shall provide to theHead of Internal Audit progress reports against key indicators to be agreed in advance with the Head of Internal Audit.
  5. The post will be for 2years. Performance will be measured with respect to the Section’s overall performance in service delivery, increases in operational effectiveness and efficiency. A probationary report will be completed after 6 months.
  6. TheSenior Internal Auditorwill report directly to the Head of Internal Audit. He/She will be responsible for 2 Internal Auditors.

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SHG Competency Framework Levels

The SHG Competency Framework is currently under review. However these are the competencies for the role of Senior Internal Auditor as defined in the current framework.

Professional Development

•Requirements for Continuous Professional Development met and when necessary submitted to Professional Institute in order to continue recognition of professional status

Planning and delivery of work

•Plans and organises work to meet individual, team and directorate/departmental objectives whilst achieving quality and value for money.

•Recognises good performance and tackles poor performance.

•Ensures delivery against plan.

•Identifies information needs and ensures they are delivered in a timely and effective manner

Analysis and use of information

•Interprets complex written information.

•Able to assess the validity, relevance and limitations of different sources of evidence.

•Generates a range of options and appraises them based on evidence available.

Decision making

•Solves problems that have significant short-term implications for the organisation.

•Assesses the impact of decisions.

•Identifies causes rather than just symptoms to inform solutions.

•Uses trends and patterns in information for evidence based decisions.

•Confident in making decisions within policy guidelines

•Assembles available knowledge to ensure evidence based decisions.

Working with others

•Manages relationships with key stakeholders by utilising a high level of understanding of own and other’s behaviours.

•Develops relationships with key stakeholders.

•Influences key stakeholders on issues relevant to the organisation.

•Creates an environment which will enable delivery of shared policy outcomes.

Communication

•Promotes communication across the organisation.

•Negotiates to reconcile individual competing priorities

•Communicates the organisation’s priorities

•Summarises complex information in an effective manner.

Influencing and persuading

•Ensures strategies to support a diverse workforce are implemented.

•Recognises and anticipates the needs of senior managers and government officials.

•Presents unpopular messages confidently.

•Varies style of communication to have maximum impact on audience

•Influences to maintain a balance between individual motives and directorate/departmental requirements

•Integrates logic and emotion to construct and convey complex arguments in a face to face situation.

Dealing with change

•Encourages employees to embrace and contribute to change.

•Presents the business need for change and can focus others on the positive aspects.

•Enables others to implement change.

•Anticipates obstacles to change.

Continuous improvement

•Can describe what the future looks like in terms of service improvements and modernisation.

•Motivate others to improve and develop their performance.

•Constructively challenges existing strategies.

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