Briefing / The NHS external audit market: current issues and possible solutions

This briefing considers: 

• the background to the current audit arrangements in the NHS
• recent events impacting the wider audit market, up to and including the Redmond review
• current issues for NHS bodies and their auditors based on the outcome of a survey of finance directors and discussions with auditors and other interested parties. The issues include:
  • the tendering process 
  • audit interest
  • risk
  • capacity 
  • fees. 

The briefing concludes with some suggested ways forward including actions NHS bodies can take in the short term. However, the main intention of the briefing is to raise awareness of the problem and feed into the discissions that NHS bodies, auditors and regulators are having locally and nationally.