Ms Colette Drinan:

I thank the Chairman and committee for the invitation to appear before it. I am joined by my colleagues, Mr. Andrew Harkness, director of audit and previous Accounting Officer, and Ms Mairead Leyden, senior auditor. I would like to offer some background information before looking at the specifics of the 2017 appropriation account.

The committee is, of course, very familiar with the work of the office, which is to assist the Comptroller and Auditor General in the exercise of his statutory functions. In his opening statement, the Comptroller and Auditor General set out the distinction between his constitutional role and the role of the office, and my role as Accounting Officer. When I became Accounting Officer in January, I took on responsibility for the administrative operations of the office. As such, I am responsible for ensuring that adequate financial management and internal control systems are in place to support the proper administration of the office in an economical and efficient manner.

The office’s approved staff complement is 178. As at 31 March 2019, the office had 159 full-time equivalent members of staff and 19 vacancies. We have recently completed a trainee auditor recruitment process, resulting in a panel of 29, and consequently the number of vacancies is expected to be reduced significantly in the coming weeks. The current staff are distributed across three functional areas. Nearly three quarters of the staff work on financial audit, 15% work on examination reporting, while 12% work on support services.