Issue - meetings

The Board considered a report of the Operational Director, Finance, which sought approval for the Council’s 2018/19 Statement of Accounts (the latest version of which was enclosed with the Agenda), and the report of the Audit Findings of the External Auditor (Grant Thornton) on the 2018/19 financial statements. The report also sought approval of the Council’s Letter of Representation.

It was reported that the Statement of Accounts set out the Council’s financial performance for the year in terms of revenue and capital spending and also presented the year-end financial position as reflected in the balance sheet. The key elements were detailed in the report.

The Board had previously received a number of reports setting out the reasons for the delay in the Council publishing the audit certificate or opinion on the 2018/19 Statement of Accounts. Officers had been working with the External Auditor to reach resolution on a number of technical accounting issue changes. Agreement had been reached in resolving the issues and changes had been made to the draft Statement of Accounts, passed to the Council’s External Auditor (Grant Thornton) on 31 May 2019. Changes were set out in the Audit Findings report which was attached as Appendix 2 to the report.

The External Auditor presented the Audit Findings report which summarised the findings from 2018/19 external audit. Section 3 of the report also presented the External Auditor’s findings on the Value for Money (VFM) conclusion. It was noted that the overall conclusion was that the Council had proper arrangements in all significant respects to ensure it delivered value for money in its use of resources.

The Board wished to place on record their thanks to the Operational Director, Finance and the Finance Team for their work in the preparation of the accounts and to Grant Thornton for their work on the audit.

Arising from the discussion it was noted that:

·         Steps had been taken to improve technical issues between the Council and the External Auditors including development of IT software sharing and weekly meetings; and

·         A report on the estimation of pension liabilities could be brought to a future meeting.

RESOLVED: That

1.    the Letter of Representation in Appendix 1 be approved;

2.    the External Auditor’s 2018/19 Audit Findings Report in Appendix 2 be received and approved; and

3.    the Council’s 2018/19 Statement of Accounts in Appendix 3 be approved.