Pwyllgor Archwilio Audit Committee 12.01.06

Ysg026

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AUDIT COMMITTEE, 31.07.06 AUDIT COMMITTEE, 31.07.06 Present: Councillor Gwilym O. Williams (Vice-chair in the Chair); Councillors: Tom Ellis, E.H. Griffith, Selwyn Griffiths, Brian Jones, Charles Wyn Jones, Michael Sol Owen and W. Tudor Owen; Peredur Jenkins (Portfolio Leader). Also present: Dilys A Phillips (Head of Administration and Public Protection), Dafydd Edwards (Head of Finance), William E. Jones (Senior Finance Manager), Dewi Morgan (Audit and Risk Manager), Ffion Madog Evans (Finance Manager – Resources and Corporate), Helen L. Williams (Capital and Control Accountant), Nia Wyn Jones (Pensions and Investments Officer) and Eirian Roberts (Committee Officer). Apologies: Councillors Edward Dogan, Huw P. Hughes, Robert J. Hughes, Henry Jones, Dewi Lewis and Godfrey Northam. 1. MINUTES The Chairman signed the minutes of the meeting of this committee held on 5 June 2006 as a true record. 2. FINAL ACCOUNTS 2005/06 Submitted – the statutory statement of the Council’s accounts for 2005/06. The Portfolio Leader – Finance, gave a presentation on the relevant background, noting (1) that this committee was requested to adopt the statutory financial statements for publication and audit. (2) that the purpose of the statutory statements of account was to contribute towards appropriate governance, showing the Council’s financial situation in standard format. (3) that detailed attention was given to specific funds in the ...

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• Publié par: Osto
• Nombre de lectures: 66
• Langue: English

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AUDIT COMMITTEE, 31.07.06

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AUDIT COMMITTEE, 31.07.06

Present:

Councillor Gwilym O. Williams (Vice-chair in the Chair);

Councillors: Tom Ellis, E.H. Griffith, Selwyn Griffiths, Brian Jones, Charles Wyn Jones, Michael

Sol Owen and W. Tudor Owen; Peredur Jenkins (Portfolio Leader).

Also present:

Dilys A Phillips (Head of Administration and Public Protection), Dafydd Edwards

(Head of Finance), William E. Jones (Senior Finance Manager), Dewi Morgan (Audit and Risk

Manager), Ffion Madog Evans (Finance Manager – Resources and Corporate), Helen L.

Williams (Capital and Control Accountant), Nia Wyn Jones (Pensions and Investments Officer)

and Eirian Roberts (Committee Officer).

Apologies:

Councillors Edward Dogan, Huw P. Hughes, Robert J. Hughes, Henry Jones, Dewi

Lewis and Godfrey Northam.

1.

MINUTES

The Chairman signed the minutes of the meeting of this committee held on 5 June 2006

as a true record.

2.

FINAL ACCOUNTS 2005/06

Submitted – the statutory statement of the Council’s accounts for 2005/06.

The Portfolio Leader – Finance, gave a presentation on the relevant background, noting

(1)

that this committee was requested to adopt the statutory financial statements for

publication and audit.

(2)

that the purpose of the statutory statements of account was to contribute towards

appropriate governance, showing the Council’s financial situation in standard

format.

(3)

that detailed attention was given to specific funds in the Finance Technical Task

Group on 13 June 2006 and that the task group’s relevant recommendations

were submitted to the Resources and Finance Scrutiny Committee on 29 June

and to the Council Board on 4 July.

By now the statutory statements of the

Funds and Reserves on pages 39-41 of the accounts book reflected those

decisions.

(4)

that two reports on the Council’s services final financial situation was submitted

to the Resources and Corporate Scrutiny Committee on 29 June – one on “Final

Revenue Accounts” and the other on “Capital Expenditure 2005/06” – and that

they showed the underspend or overspend of every service in order to determine

the sums to be carried forward to 2006/07.

The recommendations of the Scrutiny

Committee had by now been submitted to the Council Board on 4 July and the

Revenue Account on page 11 of the account book reflected the relevant

decisions.

(5)

due to a change to the statutory requirements, that the Audit Committee had to

adopt the 2005/06 accounts by the end of July of this year (compared with the

end of September in past years) and that the accounts would have to be adopted

by the end of June from next year onwards.

To close, the Portfolio Leader thanked the staff of the Finance Service for undertaking all

AUDIT COMMITTEE, 31.07.06

the work within a very tight timescale and recommended that the members adopt the

accounts book.

Then the following officers expanded on the contents of the noted sections of the

accounts book, inviting questions from the floor.

Officer

Section of the Accounts Book

Page

Head of Finance

1 – Foreword

1-5

2 – Statements and Accounting Principles

6-10

Senior Finance

Manager

3 – Revenue Account and Notes to the Revenue

Account

11-20

4 – Appendix A – Expenditure Analysis of Services 64-66

5 – Housing Revenue Account and Notes to the

Housing Revenue Account

21-24

6 – The Balance Sheet and Notes to the Balance

Sheet

25-36

7 – Movement in Reserves and Notes on the

Movement in Reserve

37-43

Finance Manager

(Resources and

Corporate)

8 – Cash Flow and Notes on the Cash Flow

44-46

9 – Group Accounts

47-49

10 – Trusts

50-51

Head of Finance

11 – Pension Fund and Notes to the Pension Fund 52-61

12 – District Auditor’s Opinion and Certificate

62-63

Many questions were raised on a number of aspects of the accounts book, including the

account policies, the comparative value of the specific reserves and balances, matters

regarding trusts and adequacy of the Pension Fund.

Full verbal replies were provided

for these by the Head of Finance, the Senior Finance Manager, the Finance Manager

(Resources and Corporate) and the Capital and Control Accountant.

The following

questions lead to two requests for further action –

(1)

The Revenue Account and Notes to the Revenue Account – Note 10 – Payments

to Workers (page 16) – The accuracy of the table “

Number of employees who

received more than £60,000

” was questioned.

It stated that no employee

received £80,000 or more in 2004/05 and the Senior Finance Manager agreed to

investigate the matter and to explain directly to the member who raised the

question.

(2)

The Revenue Account and Notes to the Revenue Account – Notes 16 and 17 –

The Council Tax and the National Non-Domestic Rates (pages 18-19) –

Reference was made to the “

Provision for Bad Debts

” in the tables that analyse

the net income accruing to the Council from these rates and a question was

raised as to how many bad debts were written off by the Council.

The Head of

Finance agreed to bring the relevant figures before the members in the next

meeting of the Audit Committee.

In this context, the Portfolio Leader – Finance,

assured the members that every effort was being made to recover debts and the

Senior Finance Officer explained that the figures appeared worse this year due

to the need to close the account earlier.

RESOLVED to adopt the statutory financial statements of the Council accounts for

2005/06 for publication and audit.

3.

INTERNAL CONTROL STATEMENT 2005-06

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AUDIT COMMITTEE, 31.07.06

Submitted – the report of the Audit and Risk Manager submitting the Statement on

Internal Control for 2005/06 for committee approval.

The Audit and Risk Manager reported –

(1)

that local authorities in Wales were required to produce an annual Statement on

Internal Control (SIC) pursuant to regulation 4(2)(a) in accordance with the

Accounts and Audit Regulations (Wales) 2005.

Although the authority had been

required (due to recommended practice rather than legislation) to produce a

Statement on Internal Financial Control as part of its account for the past three

years or so, the new requirement for a SIC was far wider as it contained

elements of the corporate risk management, governance and internal control

environment

(2)

that the SIC must be published with the final accounts.

(3)

that it was essential that evidence was in place in order to support the contents

before the document was published and that the Wales Audit Office would review

the evidence in place as part of their review of the Council’s work

(4)

that the development of a framework that contained a portfolio of evidence to

support the SIC had been one of the Internal Audit Section’s key tasks and that

the framework was based on guidelines incorporated in CIPFA publications.

Statements, comments and declarations from key officers and from various

strategies and the Council policies were used to write the SIC.

The Head of Finance reported that the Statement on Internal Control will have been

included with the accounts statements and policies as part of the Council’s final

accounts book following audit.

RESOLVED to approve the document as Gwynedd Council’s Statement on Internal

Control for the 2005/06 financial year and the period since the balance sheet date.

The meeting commenced at 10.30am and concluded at 11.55am

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