Agenda and minutes

Members are asked to disclose any interests in matters for consideration at the meeting.

No interests were disclosed.

                                                                                                                  (Enclosure)

The minutes of the meeting held on 27 June 2013 were proposed, seconded and agreed as a correct record.

Report number HOF243 by the Strategic Director (Corporate Focus) and the Head of Finance.                                                                                                                  (Enclosure)

Prior to consideration of the draft Statement of Accounts, the Head of Finance gave a  presentation which began by reminding the Committee that it was charged with governance responsibilities on behalf of Council, including the approval of Statement of Accounts 2012/13.

The presentation also summarised the process for the approval of the Statement of Accounts. The Section 151 Officer was required to sign-off the accounts by the end of June. Historically there had been a requirement that the audit committee consider the draft Statement of Accounts. While the requirement had been removed, consideration of the draft by the Governance and Audit Committee was continued as good practice.

External audit had begun their consideration of the accounts on-site between 1 July 2013 and 10 July 2013. Audit inspection work would continue off-site until mid-September 2013. Officers reported that from their perspective the transition of the external audit function from the Audit Commission to KPMG had been relatively smooth. Reports to date indicated external audit were satisfied with the composition of the draft Statement of Accounts. However it was noted that until the audit was formally completed then further changes may be required.

It was still a statutory requirement that a notice should be published stating the accounts were available for public inspection. No requests to view the accounts had been received at the date of the meeting. It was noted that the accounts would be available to view until the 31 July 2013.

The final version of the Statement of Accounts would be presented to the Committee at its meeting on 26 September 2013. It would incorporate any changes or adjustments identified from the Committee’s consideration of the draft and external audit’s inspection.

The presentation also provided a brief explanation of the core statements which were required for all councils (Movement in Reserves Statement, Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement, Balance Sheet, Cashflow Statement and explanatory notes) and supplementary statements which were determined by the type of authority (Housing Revenue Account, Movement on the Housing Revenue Account Statement, Collection Fund, a detailed explanatory foreword and the Annual Governance Statement).

A summary of the accounts would be produced for publication. It was hoped the draft document would be available for the Committee’s meeting on 26 September 2013.

In presenting report number HOF243, the Head of Finance explained that since the circulation of the draft Statement a number of small modifications (mostly typographical and presentational) had been noted by KPMG. He assured members that the audit had not, up to the time of the meeting, revealed anything of a significant or material nature.

Members were asked to consider whether the explanatory foreword reflected the financial year, was informative to the reader and was helpful in gaining an understanding of the financial year.

The Committee went through the draft Statement of Accounts thoroughly and raised a number of suggestions and queries as listed below:

·         Discussion around the KiNG 31 development and overall consensus that the reference in report was a statement of fact and therefore  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

The meeting was closed at 15:53.