| Au.120 | There were no declarations of interest made at the meeting. |
| Au.121 | There were no members of the public present to ask questions at the meeting. |
| Au.123 | Rashpal Khangura explained that the External Auditors would be preparing a report to be submitted to the Audit Committee in September 2009 which would outline their findings and recommendations in relation to the Council’s Statement of Accounts.
Members had been sent a report which contained examples of issues that could be included within the report they will receive in September. It was explained that the issues did not relate to Bury and were for training purposes only to give Members an idea of the matters they should be questioning both to the external auditors and the officers of the Authority.
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| Au.124 | Stephen Kenyon, Head of Strategic Finance presented a report introducing the 2008/2009 Governance Statement. It was explained that under the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2003, the Council was required to produce a Governance Statement which is one of the documents supporting the Annual Statement of Accounts.
The purpose of the Statement was to provide an assurance as to the effectiveness of the internal control and governance of the Authority.
Appended to the report was the Governance Statement 2008/2009 which set out the scope of responsibility, the purpose of the Governance Framework, the Governance Framework, risk management, efficiency/value for money, Use of Resources, auditor judgement, group activities, significant internal control issues and looking ahead to 2009/2010.
It was also explained that a Governance Panel which had been established following the 2007/2008 Annual Governance Statement, had met on a number of occasions, the Governance Panel comprised the Director of Finance and E-Government, Director of Legal and Democratic Services, Head of Strategic Finance and the Head of Internal Audit. The role of the Panel was to assess the adequacy of the internal control/governance framework.
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| Au.125 | The Director of Finance and E-Government presented a report submitted by the Executive Member for Resource on the Statement of Accounts 2008/2009. 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 2008/2009 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.
In line with best practice, an aide memoire for Members providing evidence of a robust review of both the accounts closedown process, and the final Statement of Accounts, was presented with the report.
Members were given the opportunity to ask questions and make comment.
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| Au.126 | Barrie Strothers, Head of Internal Audit, presented a report summarising the work carried out by the Audit Committee during the 2008/2009 Financial Year. The report showed the effectiveness of the Audit Committee and included a self assessment checklist to demonstrate that CIPFA guidance was complied with.
The report set out the CIPFA guidance on the core functions of an Audit Committee and explained how Bury’s Audit Committee met with the guidance. The reports submitted to each meeting were listed and the Delegated Decisions made by the Committee were also set out.
The conclusion of the report was that the Audit Committee complied with the features set out by CIPFA and that the opinion of the Officers attending the Committee was that the support given by the Members was invaluable in reinforcing the message of sound governance.
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| Au.127 | Barrie Strothers, Head of Internal Audit, explained that, under the provisions of the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2006, the Council had an obligation to issue a Governance Statement. It was explained that the Internal Audit Annual Report provided some of the assurances in order to satisfy that obligation.
Barrie presented a report summarising the work undertaken by the Internal Audit Service in the 2008/2009 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 “robust” and updated Members on some of the issues facing the Internal Audit Service.
Appended to the report was a Review of the Effectiveness of Internal Audit, the Annual Report and Opinion for 2008/2009, the Internal Audit Plan 2008/2009 and Internal Audit Performance Indicators.
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| Au.128 | Stephen Kenyon, Head of Strategic Finance presented a report from The Executive Member for Resource setting out details of the risk management activity that had
taken place in the previous 12 months and the key issues that would be addressed in the coming financial year. The Council at it’s meeting held on 24 June 2009, had approved the Annual Report.
It was explained that the report had been considered by the Executive and the Council at their most recent meetings.
The report set out the approach taken to risk management in Bury internally and within partnership working. The report highlighted the achievements made during 2008/2009, including Reviews and Performance Monitoring, Training and Development, Business Continuity Management, Partnership Risk Management and the Financial and Performance benefits.
It was explained that progress continued to be made in the area of risk management and in embedding the approach to risk management into the Authority’s processes and culture.
Appended to the report was a diagram of the financial and corporate planning cycle of the Authority, a flow chart setting out internal and external drivers for risk and the Departmental Risk Assessment Action Plan Registers (RAAPs).
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| Au.129 | Rashpal Khangura, representing KPMG, presented the Committee with the Audit Plan which contained the Annual Audit Fee letter 2009/2010 and gave a breakdown of the work to be carried out by KPMG in relation to the Use of Resources assessments, audit fee assumptions and planned outputs.
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| Au.130 | Rashpal Khangura, representing KPMG presented the Committee with the Progress Statement for the External Audit Programme 2008/2009.
Details of the ongoing work and when that work would be completed and reported to the Committee were included in the report with comments on progress.
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