Meeting documents

Audit Committee
Thursday, 23rd August, 2012 7.00 pm

Date:
Thursday, 23rd August, 2012
Time:
7.00pm
Place:
Meeting Rooms A & B, Bury Town Hall
 

Attendance Details

Present:
Councillor A Audin (in the Chair);
Councillors P Bury, D Cassidy, E FitzGerald, M Hankey, and B Vincent.
Co-opted:
Heather Garrett, KPMG
Gemma Douse, KPMG

There was 1 member of the public in attendance at the meeting
Apologies for absence:
Councillors P Heneghan and K Rothwell
Buttons
Item Description Decision
Open
AU.254 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Preamble for item AU.254
 
AU.255 PUBLIC QUESTION TIME
Preamble for item AU.255
 
AU.256 AUDIT COMMITTEE TRAINING - STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS
Preamble for item AU.256
Delegated decision:

That Andrew be thanked for his informative presentation
AU.257 Minutes of the Meeting held on Tuesday, 26th June, 2012 7.00pm
 Delegated decision:

That the Minutes of the meeting of the Audit Committee held on 26 June 2012 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.
AU.258 REPORT TO THOSE CHARGED WITH GOVERNANCE (ISA 260)
Preamble for item AU.258
Delegated decision:

That the findings of the report be accepted.
AU.259 STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS 2011/2012
Preamble for item AU.259
Delegated decision:

1. That the technical amendment to the Accounts recommended by KPMG be approved

2. That the final version of the Statement of Accounts for the 2011/2012 financial year, be approved in line with the provisions of the Accounts and Audit Regulations (England) 2011 which have replaced the 2003 regulations.

1. That the matters and issues arising from the audit and contained within the ISA (UK & I) 260 presented by KPMG be noted

2. That the letter of representation signed by the Assistant Director of Resources (Finance and Efficiency) which was presented at the meeting be approved.

3. That KPMG be thanked for their support and advice during the audit process.
AU.260 ANNUAL GOVERNANCE STATEMENT
Preamble for item AU.260
Delegated decision:

That the Annual Governance Statement be accepted.
AU.261 FINANCIAL MONITORING REPORT - APRIL 2012 TO JUNE 2012
Preamble for item AU.261
Delegated decision:

That the contents of the report be noted.
AU.262 QUARTERLY GOVERNANCE STATEMENT APRIL TO JUNE 2012
Preamble for item AU.262
Delegated decision:

That the contents of the report be noted.
AU.263 GIFTS AND HOSPITALITY APRIL 2012 - JUNE 2012
Preamble for item AU.263
Delegated Decision:

That the contents of the report be noted.
AU.264 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.265 INTERNAL AUDIT PROGRESS REPORT
  • (Attachment: 10)A report from the Head of Internal Audit
  • |
    (Attachment: 11)Appendix A
  • |
    (Attachment: 12)Appendix C
  • |
    (Attachment: 13)Appendix B
  • |
    (Attachment: 14)Appendix D
  
AU.266 INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT - MEMBERS' FEEDBACK
  • (Attachment: 15)A report from the Head of Internal Audit
 
The meeting started at 7.00 pm and ended at 8.40 pm

Preamble

Preamble
ItemPreamble
AU.254There were no declarations of interest made at the meeting.
AU.255There were no public questions asked at this point in the meeting.
AU.256Andrew Baldwin, Head of Financial Management gave a training session explaining the Statement of Accounts.

Members of the Committee were invited to ask questions and comment.
AU.258Gemma Douse, representing KPMG, the Council’s External Auditors, presented a report summarising the key findings from their work in relation to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2012 and their assessment of the Authority’s arrangements to secure value for money in its use of resources.

It was explained that KPMG had substantially completed their work on the 2011/2012 financial statements and it was anticipated that an unqualified audit opinion would be issued by the end of August 2012.

It was reported that KPMG had noted continued improvement in the quality of the accounts and the supporting working papers and that officers had dealt efficiently with audit queries. This had meant that the audit process could, largely, be completed within the planned timescales.

Gemma explained that there was 1 adjustment in respect of heritage assets which was highlighted within the report, the impact of the adjustment had increased the net worth of the authority as at 1 April 2010 by £23.6million. Management had recognised the change as an in year revaluation and therefore there was nil impact on the net worth of the authority as at 31 March 2012.

There were two lower level recommendations included the report at Appendix 1, these were reported as one priority three issue advising of the implementation of component accounting and a priority two recommendation advising that the NNDR reconciliations be carried out on a monthly rather than a weekly basis.

The Assistant Director of Resources (Finance and Efficiency) presented the Letter of Representation which had been signed by him and the Chair of the Audit Committee, Councillor Ann Audin to KPMG which was required before the audit opinion could be issued.

Members of the Committee were given the opportunity to ask questions and the following points were raised:-

•Councillor Bury referred to the recommendation to carry out monthly rather than weekly NNDR reconciliation and asked whether this would be implemented?

It was explained that this would be accepted and implemented with immediate effect.

•Councillor Hankey referred to the findings relating to the Council’s Financial planning and the references made to the Plan for Change. Councillor Hankey explained that the Councillors had only had sight of a condensed report setting out the Plan for Change and asked whether KPMG had had access to more detailed information than the Councillors.

Heather explained that KPMG had received the same information that the Councillors had but had also asked for further supporting information which had been provided and they were satisfied with.
AU.259Further to Minute AU.122 of the meeting of this Committee held on 23 June 2012, the Assistant Director of Resources (Finance and Efficiency) presented a report setting out the work that had been carried out by KPMG in relation to the Authority’s accounts and the findings from that work.

It was reported that no audit adjustments had been identified that had an impact on the Council’s revenue, capital or HRA outturn for 2011/12; only 1
retrospective technical adjustment had been identified; one recommendation had been made and it had been classified as low risk by KPMG; the quality of the Council’s accounts and working papers had remained at a high level; the Council had presented its audited accounts to Members one month earlier than the statutory deadline.

It was also reported that a notice would be placed advertising the completion of the audit and explaining how members of the public could access copies of the statement and summary of accounts.
AU.260Steve Kenyon, Assistant Director of Resources (Finance and Efficiency) presented the Annual Governance Statement. It was explained that it was an Audit requirement that the Annual Governance Statement was presented alongside the Audited Statement of Accounts.
AU.261Steve Kenyon Assistant Director of Resources (Finance and Efficiency) presented a report updating Members of the Committee on the Authority’s financial position in line with the Committee’s Statement of Purpose to ‘provide independent scrutiny of the authority’s exposure to risk and the control environment’.

The report indicated that the Authority was projecting an overspend of £1.613m for the year based on spending and income information as at June 2012. Steve explained that the projected overspend was a very cautious forecast and it was likely that this figure would reduce throughout the course of the financial year.

Members of the Committee were given the opportunity to ask questions and the following points were raised:-

• Councillor FitzGerald asked whether it would be possible to include the actual figure to date within the update reports as variances would have occurred but not been reported within the figures.

Steve confirmed that the request would be taken on board and the information provided within the month 6 report.

AU.262
The Head of Internal Audit, presented a report providing Members with a quarterly update on the Annual Governance Statement which had been approved by the Audit Committee at its meeting on June 26 2012.

The report gave an update on the continuous monitoring that was carried out and highlighted any relevant issues with regards to Risk Management, Business Continuity, Budget Monitoring, the work of Internal Audit, Review of Ethical Governance, the work of the Governance Panel, Gifts and Hospitality and Sickness levels across the authority’s staff.

The up to date Corporate Risk Register was appended to the report and informed Members of the risk event and status. It was explained that the Risk Register had been updated to reflect the most current high level risks facing the organisation.
AU.263Steve Kenyon presented a report providing Members with an update of the system to declare, monitor and report gifts and hospitality offered to or received by staff and Members.

The report covered the period April 2012 to June 2012.