Audit Committees: Practical Guidance For Local Authorities And Police (2022 edition)

Audit committees are a key component of governance. Their purpose is to provide an independent and high-level focus on the adequacy of governance, risk and control arrangements. They play an important role in supporting leadership teams, elected representatives, police and crime commissioners and chief constables.

This edition updates CIPFA’s 2018 publication to complement the 2022 edition of the CIPFA Position Statement on audit committees.

The suite of publications has separate guidance resources for audit committee members in authorities, members of police audit committees, and a supplement for those responsible for guiding the committee.

New aspects include legislation changes in Wales and new expectations in England following the Redmond Review. All authorities and police bodies are encouraged to use the publication to review and develop their arrangements in accordance with the Position Statement.

The appendices include suggested terms of reference, a knowledge and skills framework and effectiveness improvement tools.

A note on this publication

The download for the 2022 edition of Audit Committees: Practical Guidance for Local Authorities and Police is a zip folder containing the following resources:

• The audit committee member in a local authority
• The police audit committee member
• Guiding the audit committee – supplement to the audit committee member guidance
• CIPFA Audit Committees Position Statement (2022)
• Appendix E – Self-assessment of good practice (interactive version)
• Appendix F – Evaluating the impact and effectiveness of the audit committee (interactive version)