FOI Request - Anti Fraud Measures

Request 101003842905

Following the recent 2023/24 audit of Aberdeen City Council (particularly the section 'Lessons for others'), I'm seeking information to understand how your council ensures robust internal controls to prevent and detect similar fraud incidents.

Please provide the following:

Segregation of Duties

1.  What controls are in place to ensure that no single officer can process a transaction from initiation to payment without independent oversight?

2.  Please provide details of any system access restrictions (including role-based permissions) that are used to enforce segregation of duties.

3.  On what date were these segregation controls last reviewed or updated?

Reconciliations

4.  How does your council ensure that feeder systems (e.g. council tax, benefits, sundry debtors) are reconciled to the general ledger?

5.  How frequently are these reconciliations carried out, and by which role(s)?

6.  Are third-party sources (such as bank statements or suppliers’ statements) routinely used to verify transactions? Please provide details.

System Documentation

7.  Does your council maintain up-to-date documentation for all key financial systems that sets out the fraud-prevention and error-prevention controls to be applied by staff?

8.  Please provide the date(s) this documentation was last reviewed or updated.

Monitoring

9.  What reports, exception checks, or scrutiny mechanisms are used to identify unusual or high-value transactions at an early stage?

10.  How often are these reports reviewed, and by whom?

11.  Please provide examples of any specific anomaly detection processes in place.

Counter-Fraud Arrangements

12.  When was your council’s current counter-fraud policy last refreshed or updated?

13.  What steps have been taken in the last three years to promote the counter-fraud policy to staff (e.g. training sessions, awareness campaigns, internal communications)?