Council
30 September, 2023
Internal audit focuses on fraud and cybersecurity
SOMERSET Regional Council has approved an internal audit program with a focus this year on fraud management and cyber security.
Somerset Audit Committee representative Councillor Helen Brieschke said, “We have an obligation to safeguard public funds and assets and look to our external and internal auditors to provide probity support and recommendations to keep our council as safe as possible.”
“The reality is that all organisations have some fraud risk and while we know we have strong systems in place to prevent fraud, they can always be improved, and our new internal auditors will look at our fraud management systems in detail over coming months.
“We have also asked internal audit to examine our cyber security risks and systems and make recommendations as to how we can reduce our risks and improve our recovery plans in the event that our systems are compromised.
“Every week a new report comes out about hacking attacks on organisations, and we are aware of Queensland councils being compromised with devastating effects.”
“Our external auditors are also working through our financial statements at the moment and are expected to issue final reports in mid-October,” Cr Brieschke said.
