Policy paper

River Arun matters of Internal Control 2025 to 2026

Updated 25 June 2026

Applies to England

1. Internal control objectives not met:

Control Objective J: Accounting statements prepared during the year were prepared on the correct accounting basis (receipts and payments or income and expenditure), agreed to the cash book, supported by an adequate audit trail from underlying records and, where appropriate, debtors and creditors were properly recorded.

There are inconsistencies between SSCL’s outstanding debt records and the debts the Arun IDB considers outstanding and recoverable. Although the EA is responsible for approving debt write‑offs under its Financial Scheme of Delegation, £13.6k of Arun IDB debt was written off without clear evidence of who approved it or the rationale. The Arun IDB Management Board continues to recognise a £15.3k bad debt provision, which includes this amount.

While there is no impact on IDB reserves, weak clarity over write-off authority and not actively pursuing long outstanding debts risk misstatement of the debt position. Management action has been agreed to clarify write-off authority, consider reversing the write off, and decide whether to write off or pursue recovery, by 31 March 2027.

Control Objective M: In the year covered by this AGAR, the authority correctly provided for a period for the exercise of public rights as required by the Accounts and Audit Regulations (during the 2025/26 AGAR period, were public rights in relation to the 2024-25 AGAR evidenced by a notice on the website and/or authority approved minutes confirming the dates set).

The period for the exercise of public rights for the 2024/25 accounts began on 26 June 2025 and ended on 6 August 2025. On 10 April 2025 the IDB published a notice that the period would begin on 26 June 2025. On 26 June 2025 the IDB published the 2024/25 accounts. However, as per Regulation 15 of the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 the IDB should have published the accounts on or before 25 June 2025; one working day before the start of the period. Management action has been agreed to update the timetable of dates for publishing required information so that it clearly states requirements set out in the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015.

2. Internal control objectives not covered:

Control Objective F: Petty cash payments were properly supported by receipts, all petty cash expenditure was approved and VAT appropriately accounted for.

Not covered by internal audit as no petty cash balances are held or administered by the IDB.

Control Objective G: Salaries to employees and allowances to members were paid in accordance with the authority’s approvals, and PAYE and NI requirements were properly applied.

Not covered by internal audit as there are no specific employees working for the IDB as all work done for the IDB is performed by employees of the Environment Agency who work on other duties. Therefore no salaries were directly paid by the IDB. 

Control Objective I: Periodic and year-end bank account reconciliations were properly carried out during the year.

Not covered by internal audit as the administered River Arun IDB does not operate a separate bank account. It is therefore not possible to test a separate bank account reconciliation related specifically to the IDB (i.e. cash book to bank statement to general ledger). Transactions that involve real ‘cash’ transfers are conducted through the Environment Agency’s bank account which is reconciled every month by its Shared Services Centre (SSCL) provider. The transactions that are recorded on the IDB project codes represent the cash flows as if the IDB were a separate entity.

Control Objective K: If the authority certified itself as exempt from a limited assurance review in the prior year (2024-25), it met the exemption criteria and correctly declared itself exempt.

This control objective is not applicable as the River Arun IDB did not certify itself as exempt in 2024-25.

Control Objective O: The authority has complied with laws, regulations & proper practices relating to digital and data compliance.

This control objective is not covered by Internal Audit at the River Arun IDB level, as the IDB does not maintain its own digital or data compliance framework. Assurance is provided through Environment Agency corporate‑level audits.