Meeting documents

Audit Committee
Thursday, 28th June, 2007 7.00 pm

Date:
Thursday, 28th June, 2007
Time:
7.00 pm
Place:
Rooms A & B, Town Hall, Bury
 

Attendance Details

Present:
Councillor D Higgin (in the Chair);
Councillors K Audin, C Berry, A J Garner, A Matthews, D O’Hanlon, S Penketh, K Rothwell and R E Walker.
Co-opted:
Mr A Brown (Co-Opted Member)
Buttons
Item Description Decision
Open
AU.118 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
 There were no declarations of interest made at the meeting.
AU.119 PUBLIC QUESTION TIME
 There were no members of the public present to ask questions at the meeting.
AU.120 Minutes of the Meeting held on Thursday, 19th April, 2007 7.00pm
 Delegated decision:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 19 April 2007 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.
AU.121 AUDIT MEMBER TRAINING
Preamble for item AU.121
It was agreed:

That Mike, Barrie, Steve, Jillian and Rashpal be thanked for their presentation.
AU.122 ANNUAL STATEMENT ON INTERNAL CONTROL
Preamble for item AU.122
Delegated decision:

That the Statement on Internal Control be accepted.
AU.123 STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS 2006/2007
Preamble for item AU.123
Delegated Decision:

1. That, in line with the provisions of the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2003, the Statement of Accounts for the 2006/2007 financial year be approved.

2. That the financing of the Capital Programme be approved.


3. That the renaming of the ICT Reserve be noted

4. That the Director of Finance and E-Government and the members of staff involved with preparing the Statement of Accounts 2006/2007 be thanked for their hard work.
AU.124 EXTERNAL AUDIT PROGRESS STATEMENT 2006/2007
Preamble for item AU.124
It was agreed:

That the contents of the report be noted.
AU.125 INTERNAL AUDIT ANNUAL REPORT 2006/2007
Preamble for item AU.125
Delegated decision:

That the conclusions reached in the report be accepted.
AU.126 AUDIT AND INSPECTION PLAN 2007/2008
Preamble for item AU.126
It was agreed:

That the contents of the report be noted.
AU.127 REVIEW OF FINANCIAL AND RISK MANAGEMENT - SUMMARY REPORT
Preamble for item AU.127
Delegated decision:

1. That the contents of the report be noted.
AU.128 EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC
 Delegated decision:

That in accordance with Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the
following items of business since they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information relating to any action taken, or to be taken in connection with the prevention, investigation and prosecution of crime.

Exempt
AU.129 INTERNAL AUDIT PROGRESS REPORT
  • (Attachment: 13)A report from the Head of Internal Audit
  • |
    (Attachment: 14)Appendix A
  • |
    (Attachment: 15)Appendix B
  • |
    (Attachment: 16)Appendix C
  • |
    (Attachment: 17)Appendix D
 
AU.130 INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT - MEMBERS' FEEDBACK
  • (Attachment: 18)A report from the Head of Internal Audit
  
The meeting started at 7.00 pm and ended at 10.00 pm

Preamble

Preamble
ItemPreamble
AU.121The Chairman, Councillor Higgin, welcomed all Members to the first meeting of the Audit Committee for the 2007/2008 Municipal Year.

Mike Owen, Director of Finance and E-Government introduced himself to the Committee and gave a presentation setting out the role and function of the Audit Committee.

It was explained that the role of the Audit Committee was to:-

• Provide independent assurance of the adequacy of the risk management framework and the associated control environment.
• Undertake independent scrutiny of the authority’s financial and non-financial performance to the extent that it affects the authority’s

Barrie Strothers, the Head of Internal Audit explained the role and functions of the Internal Audit Department and the staff structure within the department.

Stephen Kenyon, Head of Strategic Finance gave a short presentation outlining his role within the authority and his relationship with the Director of Finance and E-Government, Internal Audit and the external auditors, KPMG.

Jillian Burrows, Senior Audit Manager and Rashpal Khangura, Audit Manager at KPMG gave a presentation explaining the work of KPMG and the relationships between the Audit Commission, KPMG and Bury MBC. The presentation also set out the work of KPMG and their planning process.
AU.122The Director of Finance and E-Government introduced a report setting out the Statement on Internal Control/Governance Statement. The Statement was an essential element of the framework by which the obligations under S151 of the Local Government Act 1972. The statement outlined various elements of the control framework which provided assurance that key controls were operating to an acceptable standard.

It was explained that the Statement was a statutory requirement which must be submitted in support of the Statement of Accounts.
AU.123The Director of Finance and E-Government presented a report submitted by the Executive Member for Quality Council (Resource and Performance) on the Statement of Accounts 2006/2007. A presentation was given at the meeting setting out the key messages from the Statement of Accounts.

It was explained that the Accounts, once approved would be subject to audit by KPMG. During the audit process the Accounts would be placed on deposit for 20 working days and would be available for inspection by members of the public.

The Statement of Accounts 2006/2007 was appended to the report and contained the Income and Expenditure Account, the Statement of the Movement on the General Fund Balance, the Statement of Total Recognised Gains and Losses, the Balance Sheet and the Cash Flow Statement.
AU.124A report setting out the progress of the ongoing work of KPMG was submitted to the Committee.
AU.125Barrie Strothers, Head of Internal Audit presented a report summarising the work undertaken by the Internal Audit Service in the 2006/2007 financial year and comparing it to the Audit Plan for the year. The report contained the Audit Opinion which assessed the authority’s control framework as “sound” and updated Members on some of the issues facing the Internal Audit Service.
AU.126Jillian Burrows and Rashpal Khangura presented the final version of the Audit and Inspection Plan 2007/2008. It was explained that the plan had been developed by the Relationship Manager and the Appointed Auditor and set out the audit and inspection work that it would be undertaken during the 2007/2008 financial year.

The plan had been drawn up from the risk-based approach to audit planning and the requirements of the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA).

It was explained that the external auditors when carrying out their audit and inspection duties had to comply with the statutory requirements governing them.
AU.127Rashpal Khangura representing KPMG presented a report setting out the review of the changes made and proposed changes to the Council’s arrangements when dealing with financial and risk management.

It was reported that the results of the review had been provided to the Director of Finance and E-Government in the form of written and ongoing feedback reports, responses to e-mails for comments on documents and issues and discussions in regular liaison meetings. The Council had responded positively to the feedback provided by KPMG.