Issue - meetings

To seek approval for the annual governance statement for inclusion with the Council’s published financial statements and approval of the audited 2014-15 financial statements for publication (report of the Executive Director – Commercialisation, is enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Shared Executive Director (Commercialisation), which sought approval for the annual governance statement for inclusion within the Council’s published financial statements, and the approval of the audited 2014-15 financial statements for publication.

The pre-audit 2014-15 financial statements were presented to the Committee on 25 June 2015.  Since that time, KPMG had been working to establish the correctness of the accounts, checking them against the Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting in the United Kingdom 2014-15, and the Council’s own accounting policies. 

The report updated the Committee on the progress of the audit, and asked members to formally approve the statements for publication, having considered the issues raised by the auditor under the previous agenda item.

A small number of presentational adjustments were required to ensure compliance with the Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting in the United Kingdom 2014-15.  No amendments were required to be made to the primary Financial Statements, and the level of resources available to the Council remained the same.

At the same meeting, the Committee considered and commented on the draft Annual Governance Statement.  Appendix A reflected minor changes to the draft version, these arising from improvements to Governance arrangements outlined in the Internal Annual Audit Report.

The Annual Governance Statement was required to be signed by the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive.  The committee was requested to approve the statement to allow it to be published with the financial statements.

The Finance Manager stated that he wished to thank the Senior Finance Analyst and his team for what had been a very successful exercise in preparing the accounts and supporting the audit.  These sentiments were re-iterated by the Chairman of the Committee. The Senior Finance Analyst also thanked his team for their work.  KPMG’s involvement in the process was also noted by the Finance Manager.

AGREED:

a)    That the 2014-15 Financial Statements be approved;

b)    That the 2014-15 Annual Governance Statement be approved; and

c)    That the Letter of Representation be approved.