Issue - meetings

The Report of the Executive Manager – Finance and Corporate Services is attached.

The Executive Manager – Finance and Corporate Services submitted a report requesting that the Corporate Governance Group approved the report to those Charged with Governance along with the Statement of Accounts. It was noted that the Council had continued to maintain a good quality Statement of Accounts and supporting working papers and that no significant issues had been identified during the audit.

The Executive Manager advised that as part of the final accounts process Mazars  as the Council’s appointed external auditor, provided a detailed report on the conduct of the audit of the final accounts alongside representations on specific matters such as the Council’s financial standing and whether the transactions with the accounts were legal and unaffected by fraud. The Report to those Charged with Governance, which covered these issues was attached as an appendix to the officer’s report.

The Executive Manager – Finance and Corporate Services and the Financial Services Manager delivered a presentation to the Group which aided the Group to understand the statement of accounts document. The presentation covered:

•           The Statements

•           Minor Late Adjustments

•           Revenue Commentary

•           Balance Sheet

•           Net worth

•           Other Statements and Summary

Mr Hoose who represented Mazars praised the officers of the Council for producing the statement of accounts in a timely manner. He stated that there was only one adjustment to their audit completion report. This was an adjustment on pensions which impacted all local government pensions following the McCloud court case.  It was also noted that the Council ensured the delivery of value for money and that they had processes and procedures in place which showed resilience and commercialisation.

It was RESOLVED that the Governance Scrutiny Group notes the completion report of 2018/19 prior to recommending the Statement of Accounts.