S4C Internal Audit Service

Descriptions

This is a tender for a contract to provide internal audit services to S4C for a period of three years. The successful company will provide serivces mainly at S4C's offices in Cardiff, but also at S4C's offices in Caernarfon.S4C is a Statutory Corporation which currently receives funding from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). S4C has also established a limited number of wholly owned subsidiary companies that generate income from a range of commercial activities which contribute towards the cost of the core public service. S4C’s finances are divided between the Public Service Fund, (which includes the income received from DCMS) and the General Fund (which does not include the income received by DCMS but encompasses income from commercial activities). The audit functions which are the subject of this tender extend across both funds.S4C has a duty to ensure that there is no direct or indirect subsidy of its commercial activities from the Public Service Fund. It is also required to deal separately with the Public Service Fund and the General Fund. Submissions should, therefore, indicate firms’ proposals for reflecting these requirements in the arrangements governing the internal audit function. S4C spends 96% of the public funding it receives on the programme service. Apart from the programmes it receives from the BBC, programmes are acquired through commissions from independent producers. Programmes are commissioned via a competitive process in line with priorities identified by S4C and in line with the S4C Code of Practice and Terms of Trade. Programme costs are scrutinised during this process and once filming begins are monitored by a team of cost controllers to ensure compliance with the programme budgets agreed.S4C is committed to the highest possible standards of corporate governance. It has established a framework of internal controls in line with the requirements of the UK Corporate Governance Code. It has undertaken to prepare a Regularity report for the audit committee of the DCMS and the National Audit Office. In addition the Authority must make arrangements for internal audit which operate in accordance with central government standards as set out in Government Accounting and the Government Internal Audit Manual. All applicants must possess the qualifications and technical expertise to be able to deliver the required auditing services and must be able to demonstrate relevant experiance of having provided similar services in the past.It should be noted that much of the documentation connected with the audit function is available only in Welsh. All applicants are expected to demonstrate sufficient Welsh language capabilities.