The World Before Social Media

Recovering from the global pandemic will take time. The public bodies who keep us safe, well and healthy will find themselves in a changed operating environment, with financial issues to address, a change in citizen and visitor behaviour and expectations, and workforces that need to adapt to new ways of working. We will all have to deal with additional risks and getting back to what we remember as ‘normal’ may take a long time, if it happens at all.

The consequences are likely to last for several years for most organisations. But there will also be opportunities to consider:

When I started the interim audit of the Senedd Commission remotely in March after returning from college, I never thought I’d be completing the final audit in May remotely too! It was certainly a strange reintroduction to audit work after two and a half months of study, but I had my second screen and desk chair set up at my dining table and I was good to go.

Data is part of our everyday lives

Every time we use a bank card, go on a bus journey or interact with a public service, we leave a trail of ‘digital fingerprints’ behind us on the systems and services we use.

Andrew Strong explains how Audit Wales secured access to NHS financial ledgers to enable us to complete NHS accounts work

COVID-19 is forcing people all over the world to find new ways of working.  At Audit Wales we have made a breakthrough in securing remote access to financial ledgers, which has helped us meet our accounts deadline.

Lucy Herman recounts her experiences leading the audit of Public Services Ombudsman for Wales

Public Service Ombudsman for Wales (PSOW) final accounts audit has now been completed. At Audit Wales we’ve had to adapt the way we do our audit work during the pandemic, and as accounts came in thick and fast here are some of our experiences on the positives and pitfalls of remote auditing.