Agenda item

The Council’s Chief Finance Officer:

(a)       presented the Statement of Accounts for the financial year ended 31 March 2020.

(b)       reported that the Statement of Accounts for 2019/20 provided a comprehensive picture of the Council’s financial circumstances and were compiled to demonstrate probity and stewardship of public funds.

(c)        reported that the Council was statutorily required to publish its Statement of Accounts for 2019/20 with an audit opinion and certificate by no later than 31 July 2020. Following the COVID-19 pandemic the statutory dates were amended with publication of the accounts required by 31^st August and an audit opinion and certificate required by 30^th November 2020.

(d)       asked committee to note that the Statement of Accounts for 2019/20, at the time of writing the report, were still subject to conclusion of the external audit by the Councils external auditors Mazars.

(e)       advised that any further changes required to the Statement of Accounts,

            arising from the conclusion of the external audit, would be agreed by the

            Council’s Chief Finance Officer and reported back to the Chair of Audit,

            and would be included in the Statement of Accounts to be submitted to

            Executive and Council  for final approval.

(e)       reported that the Council must make the Statement of Accounts available for public inspection for 10 working days. Following notification from the Council’s external auditors, this ran from 1 September 2020 until 15 January 2020 and the external auditor was available to answer questions during this period. It was reported that no questions had been received.

(f)        reported that the Council was required to provide a documented annual review of the effectiveness of its governance arrangements which sat alongside the Statement of Accounts, known as the Annual Governance Statement. The overall level of assurance provided in 2019/20 was substantial and was in line with the Council’s Code of Corporate Governance.

(g)       noted, that there were three defined significant issues. In respect of   IT Disaster Recovery there was one action outstanding from 2018/19, and this would be regularly reported by management to the Audit Committee. In respect of 2019/20 there were two additional significant issues identified, the Review of the Impact of Coronavirus on the Councils service delivery and embedding new ways of working and Vison 2025 needed to be re-profiled and communicated to a wider audience in the light of COVID-19 . These would be regularly reported by management to the Audit Committee.

(g)       presented the following aspects of the Statement of Accounts:

·         the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement;

·         the Balance Sheet;

·         general balances;

·         earmarked reserves;

·         liquidity;

·         debtors;

·         creditors;

·         non-current assets;

·         pensions;

·         officer remuneration;

·         borrowing;

·         investments.

(h)       invited members’ questions and comments.

Councillor Dyer referred to paragraph 1.3 of the Annual Governance Statement and requested that it be recorded that he did not agree with the current call-in procedure and commented that it was not fit for purpose.

It was RESOLVED that the Statement of Accounts be recommended to Council for approval, with any further changes to the Statement of Accounts arising from the conclusion of the external audit being delegated to the Chief Finance Officer who will report any such changes to the Chair of the Audit Committee.