Birmingham City Council, Europe’s biggest local authority, has no way of knowing if financial fraud has been committed after it failed to run security and audit features in a new Oracle Fusion ERP system.
The English council, which was responsible for £3.7 billion revenue [PDF] in 2021, also continues to struggle with “segregation of duties” features that set who is legally allowed to see and control transactions, essential for preventing fraud.
Fiona Greenway, director of finance and statutory officer, told the Audit Committee yesterday that the council would almost certainly never know if fraud had been committed.
The cost of implementing a functioning system that allows external auditors to sign off accounts is expected to be more than £100 million more than initial estimates.
In October last year, a 12-page public interest report from external auditors Grant Thornton highlighted concerns over security and governance from when the system was first introduced.
Earlier this month, Councillor Fred Grindrod, chair of the council’s audit committee, asked why the Oracle system was still not “safe and compliant” in terms of legal and statutory obligations going into the new financial year, something Grant Thornton said would be “absolutely crucial.”
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Birmingham City Council, Europe’s biggest local authority, has no way of knowing if financial fraud has been committed after it failed to run security and audit features in a new Oracle Fusion ERP system.
The English council, which was responsible for £3.7 billion revenue [PDF] in 2021, also continues to struggle with “segregation of duties” features that set who is legally allowed to see and control transactions, essential for preventing fraud.
Fiona Greenway, director of finance and statutory officer, told the Audit Committee yesterday that the council would almost certainly never know if fraud had been committed.
The cost of implementing a functioning system that allows external auditors to sign off accounts is expected to be more than £100 million more than initial estimates.
In October last year, a 12-page public interest report from external auditors Grant Thornton highlighted concerns over security and governance from when the system was first introduced.
Earlier this month, Councillor Fred Grindrod, chair of the council’s audit committee, asked why the Oracle system was still not “safe and compliant” in terms of legal and statutory obligations going into the new financial year, something Grant Thornton said would be “absolutely crucial.”
The original article contains 516 words, the summary contains 195 words. Saved 62%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!