DRAFT MINUTES OF AUDIT COMMITTEE HELD ON

Jo.Maskell

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• Publié par: Thoem
• Nombre de lectures: 40
• Langue: English

Extrait

MINUTES OF AUDIT COMMITTEE HELD ON

22 September 2010

7.30pm-9.45pm

PRESENT

COUNCILLORS

Mark Gough (Chairman)

Joshua Jolles (Vice-Chairman)

Simon Carter

Manny Doku

Tony Durcan

T

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M

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24.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

None.

25.

MINUTES

RESOLVED

that the minutes of the meeting held on 21 July

2010 be agreed as a correct record and signed by the

Chairman.

26.

MATTERS ARISING

(a)

External Auditor – Audit Opinion Plan

(Minute18(c) Refers)

It was noted that the actions which the Council could take to

reduce its audit fees were outlined in the report ‘Audit

Commission Fees’ which appeared later in this agenda.

(b)

External Auditor – Fee Letter 2010/11

(Minute 18(d) Refers)

It was noted that the refunded fees would be credited to the

same expenditure code from which the overpayment originated

and would be reported through the budget monitoring process.

(c)

Internal Audit – Annual Report

(Minute 18(e) Refers)

In response to a query regarding the internal auditing of

Members’ expenses claims (in particular telephone expenses), it

was agreed that the issue would be followed up and reported

back to this Committee.

RESOLVED

that the Strategic Director, in consultation

with the Chairman of this Committee and the Chairman of

the Resources Policy Working Group, be requested to

take forward this issue and report back to the next

meeting of this Committee.

27.

WRITTEN QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS

None.

28.

NON-CONTENTIOUS BUSINESS

RESOLVED

that no items be taken as non-contentious

business.

29.

COMMITTEE FORWARD WORK PLAN

RESOLVED

that

(a)

the Committee Forward Work Plan be noted;

(b)

consideration be given to cancelling the meeting on 26

January 2011 due to lack of business.

30.

INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL REPORTING STANDARDS (IFRS)

The Committee received a report proposing an implementation

timetable for the various changes which the Council had to make, in

order to meet new requirements for the preparation and presentation of

its annual financial statements.

These requirements, under the International Financial Reporting

Standards, would be implemented from 31 March 2011.

RESOLVED

that the contents of the report and the proposed

implementation timetable, which would enable the Council to

meet the implementation date of 31 March 2011, be noted.

31.

ANNUAL GOVERNANCE REPORT

The Committee received the Audit Commission’s draft Annual

Governance Report, which included the Council’s proposed action plan

to address issues raised by the Commission.

The Audit Commission reported that the first five outstanding matters in

paragraph 8 of its report had now been cleared.

Since the report had been published the Audit Commission had

identified an additional material error and additional non-material errors

which were outlined in revised appendices, tabled at the meeting.

It was noted that the Council would amend its management letter of

representation to take account of these revisions and give reasons for

not correcting certain financial misstatements.

The Committee reviewed the report, together with the tabled revised

Appendices 2, 3 and 3A, prior to its consideration by the Executive

Committee.

RESOLVED

that the report be noted.

32.

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AUDIT 2009/10 – MANAGEMENT

LETTER OF REPRESENTATION

The Committee received a report and draft letter of representation,

which the Council’s external auditors required in order to comply with

International Standards on Auditing guidance.

The purpose of the letter was to obtain written representation on

matters where the auditors were relying on the management’s

judgement.

It was noted that amendments would be required to the management

letter (appended to the report) to take account of the issues raised in

the revised appendices to the Annual Governance Report (see Minute

31 above).

RESOLVED

that the draft letter of representation attached at

Appendix 1 of the report, which is to be acknowledged formally

by the Executive Committee at its meeting on 23 September

2010, be amended as follows:-

(a)

the date of despatch of the letter be corrected and the

date in the last sentence be amended to read 24

September 2010;

(b)

the Strategic Director, in consultation with the Chairman

of this Committee and the Chairman of the Resources

Policy Working Group, be delegated to amend the letter

to include the reasons why the Council was not amending

certain misstatements reported by the Audit Commission.

33.

AUDITED ANNUAL ACCOUNTS 2009/10

The Committee received the report on the audited annual accounts,

which had been submitted to this Committee for noting, prior to being

presented to the Executive Committee for approval.

Amended pages 33 and 34 of the Statement of Accounts were tabled.

Listed under Foreign Exchange Risk, Members queried why the

Council held £2,210 in euros in the bank.

RESOLVED

that

(a)

the audited Statement of Accounts 2009/10, at Appendix

2 of the report and as amended, be noted and

recommended for approval by the Executive Committee

subject to the correction of the acronym in section 19 of

the Accounts to read STRGL;

(b)

Members of the Committee be advised of the reasons

why the Council holds cash in the bank in euros.

34.

AUDIT RECOMMENDATION TRACKERS

The Committee received a report on the progress made in

implementing both internal and external audit recommendations.

It was noted that Internal Audit were working with the Policy &

Performance Team to develop the Recommendation Tracker into a

more user friendly Excel based format, which would ensure more

rigorous reporting and monitoring arrangements were in place.

RESOLVED

that

(a)

the progress made in implementing the recommendations

set out in the tables in Appendices A and B of the report

be noted;

(b)

the recommendation to introduce more efficient and

rigorous monitoring and reporting of improvement plans

in future be noted.

35.

AUDIT COMMISSION FEES

Following the presentation of the Audit Commission’s fee letter at the

24 June 2010 meeting of this Committee, the Committee received a

briefing note, which gave additional information on the external

auditor’s fees.

Whilst the basic fee was not negotiable, Members were keen to check

that the three add-on fees charged to the Council were calculated in a

fair and equitable way.

In particular, Members highlighted the risk

based fee which, although the percentage charged had considerably

reduced since 2008/09, was still a substantial and subjective amount

charged to this Council.

RESOLVED

that

(a)

the briefing note be noted;

(b)

authority be delegated to the Strategic Director in

consultation with the Chairman of this Committee and the

Resources Policy Working Group, to write a letter to the

Audit Commission (cc to the Secretary of State and the

Local

Government

Association)

setting

out

the

Committee’s concerns about the formula for the

calculation of audit fees;

(c)

a copy of the letter be submitted to the next meeting of

this Committee.

36.

QUARTER 1 PERFORMANCE REPORT 2010/11

The Committee received a report on the first quarter of 2010/11, which

provided an analysis of how the Council performed against national

and local performance indicators and actions and activities contained in

the Corporate Plan.

The report included Performance Improvement

Action Plans for those performance indicators where performance had

fallen short of targets.

A table and graph of performance target trends over time between

2009/10 and the first quarter of 2010 were tabled.

The Chairman and Members congratulated Officers on the new style

report, which set out statistics clearly for ease of reference.

However,

it was requested that in future reports, different colours be used for

moderate and minor risks.

Whilst Members were pleased that 22 out of 59 (37%) performance

indicators performed better than target, they cautioned on possible cost

implications if this level of performance were achieved by increasing

costs.

RESOLVED

that

(a)

quarter one performance as indicated in point 4 of the

report and detailed in appendices A and B, be noted;

(b)

the Improvement Action Plans in relation to the

performance exception report shown in Appendix C, be

noted;

(c)

guidance notes on how performance indicators are

quantified be circulated to members of this Committee for

information.

37.

SICKNESS MANAGEMENT POLICY

The Committee received a report on a proposed revised Sickness

Absence Policy, which was being considered by the Executive

Committee on 23 September 2010.

RESOLVED

that the revised Sickness Absence Management

Policy and Procedure and proposed changes to the

Occupational Sick Pay Scheme, be noted.

38.

REFERENCES FROM OTHER COMMITTEES

None.

39.

MATTERS OF URGENT BUSINESS

None.

CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE