Colleges: Post 16 Audit Code of Practice – ACOP

Published March 2017

The Post-16 Audit Code of Practice sets out a common standard for the provision of assurance in relation to funding of post 16 providers.      The ESFA have included guidance over common findings from regularity assurance work. These include:

Governance

• Not holding management to account;
• Inadequate record keeping ;
• Ineffective implementation of policies and procedures (i.e. tendering)
• Ineffective governance structure;
• Inappropriate related party relationships, transactions and disclosures.

Management

• Ineffective use of resources;
• Slow response to matters identified by Ofsted;
• Inadequate record keeping;
• Ineffective management structure.

It is recognised that as a sector there have been very few occurrences of irregularity, however, given the instances reported within the academy sector it is important to remain vigilant.