Issue - meetings

Report of the Director – Finance and Corporate Services

Ms Norman presented the Draft Annual Report which provided a commentary coming from the value for money work and proposed conclusions.

Ms Norman advised that no significant weaknesses in arrangements were being reported and that no recommendations were being made. She said that it was a very good report for the Council and it was anticipated that all work would be completed well before the deadline.

The Chair referred to the increased costs for external audit work and asked why they had increased so much. Ms Norman explained that the Council had signed a contract with Public Sector Audit Appointments (PSAA) which came under the Local Government Association and explained that the fees were set by the PSAA rather than Forvis Mazars and that PSAA carried out annual consultation to confirm the fees. She referred to historical incidents where many councils were not producing audited accounts on time and as such systemic reform was required and the increased fees supported that reform work.

It was RESOLVED that the Governance Scrutiny Group noted the receipt of the Draft Annual Audit Report at Appendix A.