Agenda item

Jaclyn Gibson, Chief Finance Officer:

a)    presented the Statement of Accounts for the financial year ended 31 March 2022.

b)    reported that the Statement of Accounts for 2021/22 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 2021/22 with an audit opinion and certificate by no later than 30 September 2022. This date had been extended from the ordinary deadline of 31July.

d)    noted that the Statement of Accounts for 2021/22 were still subject to final verification by external audit . The audit of accounts was being finalised by Mazars, who had commented the audit in July. Should any material changes be necessary as a result of this final external audit work, these would be reported back to a meeting of this committee by the Chief Finance Officer.

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 August 2022 until 12 August 2022 and the external auditor was available to answer questions during this period. It was reported that no questions had been asked.

f)     advised that during the completion of the external audit no misstatements above the threshold level of £49k were found.

g)    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 2021/22 was substantial and was in line with the Council’s Code of Corporate Governance.

h)    explained that one significant issue had been identified in respect of IT Disaster Recovery, an issue which was included in the previous years Annual Governance Statement. Although progress had been made over  the last twelve months it was felt that the issue should remain on the list of significant issues, and progress against the actions would be regularly reported by Management to the Committee. There were no other significant issues identified in 2021/22

i)     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.

j)     invited members’ questions and comments.

Question: Referred to the breakdown of capital expenditure on page 104 and page 116 of the report and commented that the figures were different and asked if there was a reason why.

Response: The information had been extracted into a summary of accounts; this would be clarified with the team.

RESOLVED that

1.    the final Statement of Accounts 2021/22 be noted, noting that the external audit was substantially complete.

2.    any further changes to the Statement of Accounts, arising from the conclusion of the external audit be delegated to the Chief Finance Officer who would report any changes to the Chair of Audit Committee.