Agency head: means a cabinet officer, an elected official, an executive director, or a board or commission vested with responsibility to administer or make policy for a state agency. See Utah Code 63I-5-102
Appointing authority: means :
(a)
the governor, for state agencies other than the State Tax Commission;
(b)
the Judicial Council, for judicial branch agencies;
(c)
the Utah Board of Higher Education, for higher education entities;
(d)
the State Board of Education, for entities administered by the State Board of Education; or
(e)
the four tax commissioners, for the State Tax Commission. See Utah Code 63I-5-102
Audit committee: means a standing committee composed of members who:
(a)
are appointed by an appointing authority;
(b)
(i)
do not have administrative responsibilities within the agency; and
(ii)
are not an agency contractor or other service provider; and
(c)
have the expertise to provide effective oversight of and advice about internal audit activities and services. See Utah Code 63I-5-102
audit director: means the person who:
(a)
directs the internal audit program for the state agency; and
(b)
is appointed by the audit committee or, if no audit committee has been established, by the agency head. See Utah Code 63I-5-102
Audit plan: means a prioritized list of audits to be performed by an internal audit program within a specified period of time. See Utah Code 63I-5-102
Internal audit: means an independent appraisal activity established within a state agency as a control system to examine and evaluate the adequacy and effectiveness of other internal control systems within the agency. See Utah Code 63I-5-102
Internal audit program: means an audit function that:
(a)
is conducted by an agency, division, bureau, or office, independent of the agency, division, bureau, or office operations;
(b)
objectively evaluates the effectiveness of agency, division, bureau, or office governance, risk management, internal controls, and the efficiency of operations; and
(c)
is conducted in accordance with the current:
(i)
International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing; or
(ii)
The Government Auditing Standards, issued by the Comptroller General of the United States. See Utah Code 63I-5-102
Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of a judicial proceeding. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes a state, district, or territory of the United States. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
State agency: means :
(i)
each department, commission, board, council, agency, institution, officer, corporation, fund, division, office, committee, authority, laboratory, library, unit, bureau, panel, or other administrative unit of the state; or
Each appointing authority may establish an audit committee to monitor the activities of the agency internal audit program.
(b)
An audit committee may serve more than one state agencyinternal audit program.
(2)
The appointing authority shall ensure that audit committee members have the expertise to provide effective oversight of and advice about internal audit activities and services.
(3)
Except as provided in Subsection (4), if an audit committee has been established, the audit committee shall:
(a)
appoint, evaluate, and, if necessary, remove the agency internal audit director;
(b)
prepare and adopt formal policies that define:
(i)
the purpose of the agency’s internal audit program; and
(ii)
the authority and responsibility of the agency’s internal auditors;
(c)
ensure that policies adopted under Subsection (3)(b):
(i)
do not place limitations on the scope of the internal audit program’s work; and
(ii)
clarify that an auditor does not have authority or responsibility for an activity that the auditor audits;
(d)
ensure that:
(i)
the audit director employs a sufficient number of professional and support staff to implement an effective internal audit program;
(ii)
compensation, training, job tenure, and advancement of internal auditing staff is based upon job performance;
(iii)
the audit director and staff collectively possess the knowledge, skills, and experience essential to the practices of the profession and are proficient in applying internal auditing standards, procedures, and techniques;
(iv)
the internal audit program has staff who are qualified in disciplines necessary to meet the audit responsibilities, including accounting, business management, public administration, human resource management, economics, finance, statistics, electronic data processing, or engineering;
(v)
internal audit staff are free of operational and management responsibilities that would impair their ability to make independent audits of any aspects of the agency’s operations;
(vi)
the audit director and the internal audit staff have access to all personnel and records, data, and other agency information that the audit director or staff consider necessary to carry out their assigned duties; and
(vii)
the audit director and internal audit staff have the necessary access to the agency head, agency management, and agency staff;
(e)
approve internal auditing policies proposed by the agency head or audit director;
(f)
review and approve the annual internal audit plan, modifications to the internal audit plan, risk assessment, and budget;
(g)
review internal and external audit reports, follow-up reports, and quality assurance reviews of the internal audit office; and
(h)
periodically meet with the agency internal audit director to discuss pertinent matters, including whether there are any restrictions on the scope of audits.
(4)
In relation to an audit committee established by the State Board of Education, the State Board of Education shall:
(a)
designate, in writing, the responsibilities and powers described in Subsection (3) that are held by the State Board of Education and the responsibilities and powers described in Subsection (3) that are held by the audit committee; and
(b)
make rules, in accordance with Title 63G, Chapter 3, Utah Administrative Rulemaking Act, for selecting the entity to be audited, determining the scope of the audit, and determining the procedures to be used in conducting the audit, including due process procedures.
