The Council will receive a presentation from the External Auditor on the External Annual Governance Report.
Members will have the opportunity to question the External Auditor and the Director of Finance, Assets and Information Services (in her capacity as the Section 151 Officer).
Minutes:
Mrs C Partridge, representing KPMG, the Authority’s External Auditor made a presentation on the External Audit Annual Governance Report 2015/16.
The following pointes were noted:
· An unqualified opinion was to be given on the financial statements, on the Use of Resources and Whole of Government Accounts
· The Accounts and papers had been produced to a high standard and the Local Authority Finance Team had dealt with audit queries efficiently and professionally
· There was one significant amendment with a total value of £13.3m. The Authority had accepted the adjustments which related to the repayment for the PFI contracts made by the Council which had been put into a prepayment account to match the revised Minimum Revenue Policy over a longer period. This was not in accordance with accounting standards. The Authority had accounted for the actual payment over 60 years, per the revised MRP policy instead of over 25 years in line with the life of the lease. Several adjustments had been required to the draft statement of accounts to rectify this, however, whist there was an impact on the net worth in year, there was no overall impact on the Authority’s medium term financial plan as this was simply a reallocation of costs over a longer period
· All audit risks had been mitigated and particular reference was made to the Consolidation of subsidiary companies and the Minimum Revenue Position
· The Annual Governance Statement complied with CIPFA Guidance and was consistent with other information published and the auditor’s understanding
· There were no recommendations raised in prior years to address in 2015/16 and two recommendations had been made in relation to:
o The policy for journal authorisation – which requested process documents to be updated; and
o The valuation of waste management PFI assets
· There were no Value for Money risks identified and no issues arising
· The Local Government Landscape was changing and the Auditor would, as part of the 2016/17 risk assessment, consider all issues arising both from a potential Financial Statement risk or Value for Money risk
Members asked to place on record their thanks and appreciation for the work of the External Auditors and also to the work of those staff within the Finance Directorate and within Internal Audit, who had contributed to the Annual Governance Report.