Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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75. To ask the Minister for Finance if his Department has completed an external quality assurance assessment of its internal audit function as required by the Institute of Internal Audit standards that were introduced in 2012 (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5111/18]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Internal and EU Audit Unit of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) provides an internal audit service to my Department on a shared service basis.    

As required by the Internal Audit Standards launched by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in 2012, the Internal Audit Unit function underwent an External Quality Assessment (EQA) which was carried out in November 2015 by the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors, the standard setting body for internal audit.  The objective of the EQA was to provide an independent assessment of the effectiveness of the internal audit function as applied across the two Government Departments.  This included considering the team’s conformance to the International Professional Practices Framework (IPPF), the globally recognised standard for quality in Internal Auditing.

The overall assessment conclusion was that the internal audit function met the highest grade rating used by the Institute of Internal Auditors i.e. "generally conforms" to the IIA’s professional standards. This means that the Internal Audit team may state in its audit reports that the work “has been performed in accordance with the IPPF”.