AUDIT
Constitution
(Constitution
approved by Council on 5 October 2000 and amended by Council on 2 August
2001. Renamed by Council as Audit
and Compliance Committee on 1 August 2002.
Revised by Council on 4 October 2002, and amended 18 March
2004)
1. There shall be an Audit
and Compliance Committee of Council hereinafter called "the
Committee".
2. Membership. The Committee shall comprise the
following:
· five
members elected by and from the Council who shall be neither a member of the
staff nor a student of the University (i.e. independent and non-executive); and
were possible one of whom should be a professional accountant/auditor and one of
whom should be a legal practitioner;
· Council
shall have the power to co-opt one additional member who shall be a professional
accountant external to the University; and
· a majority
of members shall not be members of the Finance Committee.
Standing Invitation to attend:
Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor.
3. Chair.
The Chair
shall be appointed by Council from the members. Should the Chair not be able to attend,
the members present are to elect one of their number to chair the
meeting.
4. Quorum.
Any
three members of the Committee constitute a quorum at a
meeting.
5. Casting Vote.
The Chair has
a casting vote in the case of an equality of votes.
6. The Registrar shall be
the Secretary to the Committee.
7.
Objectives.
7.1 Assist the Council in
fulfilling its responsibilities under the
Financial Administration and Audit Act 1977, the Financial Management Standard 1997,
the
7.2 Recommend to the Council any
necessary changes to University procedures or processes to ensure
compliance.
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8. Duties and
Responsibilities.
8.1 The Committee is to consider
any matters relating to the Committee’s objectives that it determines
desirable. In addition, the
Committee must examine any other matters referred to it by the
Council.
8.2 In particular, the Committee
is to review and make recommendations to Council on:
a. the reporting of
financial information;
b. the application of
accounting policies;
c. financial
management;
d. internal control
system;
e. business policies and
practices;
f. compliance with
applicable laws, regulations and policies; and
g.
monitoring
and controlling risk management.
8.3 Also, the Committee is
to:
a. receive and assess
Audit and Assurance reports;
b. monitor on behalf of
Council the timely implementation of audit
recommendations;
c. provide a formal
channel for communication between the Council and external audit functions;
and
d.
be
responsible on behalf of Council for the overview of the Audit and Assurance
function.
8.4 In assisting the Council to
fulfill its legislative and statutory requirements, the Committee
shall:
a. review the composition
and constitution of the various committees established by
Council;
b. report to Council any
areas of deficiency which may result in the non-fulfillment of legislative and
statutory requirements; and
c. make recommendations to
Council to change the processes and/or committee structure to ensure effective
compliance with legislative and statutory requirements.
This
process should be undertaken by the Committee at least once during the life of
each Council or where significant changes occur in the applicable legislative
and statutory requirements.
9. Reporting.
9.1 The Chair of the Committee is
to report the findings and recommendations of the Committee to the Council after
each Committee meeting. In doing so
due regard is to be given to avoiding disclosures that could give rise to
conflicts of interest on the part of Council members.
9.2
The
Committee is to provide an annual report to Council, as soon as practicable
after the end of each financial year, about the Committee's operations.
