Meeting documents

Barrie Morris (Director, Grant Thornton) explained that the audit report summarised the findings from the Audit of the 2019/20 accounts. He said that it was clear officers had worked hard to maintain services to residents and the finance team had responded well to the audit queries. He thanked the Finance team and the Audit team for their hard work over the past few weeks.

The remaining outstanding items were the signed letter of representation and the final approved statement of accounts. He confirmed there was no requirement to exercise their statutory responsibilities and that an unqualified value for money conclusion alongside an unqualified audit opinion on the financial statements would be issued.

The audit approach was set out with two different materiality thresholds. the first for the group accounts of £1.64m and the second for the council of £1.53m. Matters over £76,500 were reported, anything less was discussed with management but not reported.

It was identified during the audit that the council was required to produce group accounts. These were produced after the initial submission.

An addendum paper was issued to Members since the report was published to show a couple of issue that were identified.

Beth Garner (Manager, Grant Thornton) then presented the report and highlighted some key points of detail, some of which included:

·         Pages 31-33 – Highlighted the risk in relation to Covid19. The pension fund work was complete as well as work in all other areas.

·         There was an error in the value of land and buildings figure within the report, the correct figure was £42,911.

·         Page 34 - A number of findings identified from the group audit as this was the first year this has been produced.

·         Page 35 – IT deficiencies, there were no significant issues found.

·         Page 40 – Assessment of the loan given to the subsidiary. Found that the treatment of this loan was correct and it was recommended to management to continue monitoring this so that its treated appropriately.

·         Page 41- Not identified any material uncertainties in relation to the council’s ability to continue as a going concern.

·         Pages 51- 52 - Identified best practices. It was noted these were a low priority and not deficiencies in the council’s work, but some management actions have been agreed.

·         Page 53 –  Recommendations identified in relation to the accounts. One of which identified that all subsiduaries of a group should be audited. It was therefore recommended to undertake this in future periods.

·         Page 54 noted that management had followed up on prior year recommendations.

·         Appendix C - The findings showed that the accounts are materially accurate.

·         Page 57 was the paper circulated as an update to members after publication. The two items that were listed to be confirmed, have now been adjusted and all items have been appropriately amended.

Barrie Morris (Director, Grant Thornton) explained that the final fee was to be confirmed and agreed as there had been significant additional work undertaken this year. The Section 151 Officer is in discussions with Grant Thornton regarding the proposal and an update paper will be brought to the next committee once concluded.

The S151 Officer thanked Grant Thornton for the extra hours and work they have done this year. The audit had been robust. The findings will be looked at and taken forward.

In response to questions raised, the Director – Support Services explained that in relation to the IT issue that was written in June, there is now the digital team in place where the System Admins function was a team of 2-3. The Security and Compliance Officer was looking at how the audit findings could be taken forward.

The Lead Specialist – Finance explained that an incorrect figure was used in relation to pooled funds. Grant Thornton spotted the error and this was then corrected.

The Chairman then read out the two recommendations, and Members were happy to note them both.

RESOLVED:     That Audit Committee:

a)    considered the matters identified in the report, and noted the draft audit findings as outlined in the report;

b)    noted the opinion on the financial statements, opinion on other matters, and the conclusion regarding arrangements for securing economy, efficiency and effectiveness in the authority’s use of resources, as stated in Appendix E