Decision details

Leigh Lloyd Thomas and Nick Bernstein from BDO, the Council’s External Auditor, presented the Statement of Accounts and External Auditor’s Audit Completion Report.

Responding to a question, the External Auditor informed the Committee that there was a risk that audit of the pension fund accounts may not be submitted by the deadline of 31 July 2018.  It was reported that when the accounts had initially been submitted, the External Auditor had raised some queries.  As a result, Capita Employee Benefits had submitted a revised set of accounts along with missing transaction lists.  Members were advised that the External Auditors were reviewing the information as quickly as possible, but due to the late submission of information it was noted that there may be a requirement to publish the pension fund accounts without an audit opinion. 

The External Auditor also reported on the work undertaken to support his Value for Money opinion, which he confirmed would be an unmodified opinion. He went on to advise the committee how impressed he had been with the quality of the work on the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy and how important it was to have a clear plan in place relating to how the Council would reverse the negative trend of relying on reserves to balance its budget. Unlike last year, this was evident and warranted comment at this committee.

A Member commented in relation to the ‘risk management’ section of the report, that the risk of late submission of information to the External Auditor in relation to the audit of the statement of accounts was a risk that should be included in the council’s risk register.  Action: Director of Finance

RESOLVED that:

1.     the Committee Approve the Statement of Accounts for 2017/18 and recommend that they be signed by the Chairman and the Director of Finance (Statutory 151 Officer) on behalf of the Council.

2.     the matters raised by the external auditor relating to detailed aspects of the 2017/18 accounts audit be noted.