Meeting documents
Venue: Large & Small Committee Room, King George V House, King George V Road, Amersham. View directions
Contact: Richard Harris 01494 732010; email: rharris@chiltern.gov.uk
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Minutes: The Minutes of the Audit Sub Committee held on 28 September 2009, copies
of which had been previously circulated, were agreed by the Sub Committee and
signed by the Chairman as a correct record. Note: Councillor Mrs E P Stacey entered the
meeting at 6.33pm. |
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Declarations of Interest Minutes: There were no declarations of interest. |
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Annual Audit Letter 2008/09 PDF 28 KB Minutes: The
Chairman welcomed Mick
West (District Auditor) and Jon Barlow, Audit Manager from
the Audit Commission, who were the Council’s external
auditors. They were in attendance to present the Annual Audit Letter and answer
questions. Mick West confirmed that an unqualified opinion on the Council’s
financial statements was issued on 30 September 2009. There had been no material errors in the
accounts. There had been some issues of
concern around system controls - additional testing had not found any
significant errors - and some presentation issues. Councils would be required to implement the
full requirements of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) from 2010/11.
Chiltern had been assessed as ‘red’ or at risk, against these
requirements. In response to questions
from the Sub Committee, Mick West advised that many local authorities had
received a similar assessment. The Audit
Commission had produced ‘Countdown to IFRS’ which
reported local government’s progress, and only 1 in 7 was ‘on track’. The External Auditors had worked with the
Council’s Finance team to resolve issues and the Council were now on track. An unqualified
Value for Money conclusion was also issued on 30 September. Mick West noted that
2008/09 was the first year of the new Use of Resources assessment and
represented a tougher test. Chiltern had
been assessed as performing adequately. Concerns were
expressed at the changes to the Use of Resources assessment which had resulted
in a reduced score for the Council on previous years. It was felt that the external auditors should
explain this in the Annual Audit Letter to inform the public. Mick West advised
that there had been a consultation process and extensive dialogue regarding the
changes to Use of Resources with the Local Government Association. The changes were designed to seek continuous
improvement from authorities, and the feeling from the Audit Commission was
that the old Use of Resources assessment, and the Comprehensive Performance
Assessment, had exhausted themselves in delivering new improvements. The old system focussed on process; the new
arrangements looked at the effect of the processes. However, Mick West acknowledged that the new
system had been introduced before the economic downturn. He added that the Audit Commission were
committed to carrying out a fundamental review of its current approach to local
value for money audit work, including Use of Resources. Concerns were also expressed that the external auditors had not given a sufficiently ‘independent’ view of progress on the Buckinghamshire Pathfinder Project. Given the money (and Members felt question-marks remained over the actual amount expended) and other resources devoted to Pathfinder, the Sub Committee were surprised the external auditors had not commented on its success or otherwise. Mick West responded that at the time of the audit the Pathfinder was at an early stage and it had not been possible to form an opinion. The Sub Committee were of the opinion that a comment should have been included stating whether the Pathfinder appeared on course to deliver the projected savings. Mick West opined that as ... view the full minutes text for item 13. |
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Annual Claims and Returns Report 2008/09 PDF 29 KB Minutes: Funding from
Government grant-paying departments represented an important income stream for
the Council. The Council needed to
manage claiming this income, and were required to demonstrate to the external
auditors that it had met the conditions attached. The report summarised the findings from the
certification of 2008/09 claims. Jon Barlow
confirmed that there were no significant concerns with the claims reviewed, and
there were no recommendations arsing from the work.
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Internal Audit Annual Plan for 2010/11 PDF 30 KB Minutes: The Internal Audit
Plan was used to direct Internal Audit resources to those aspects of the
Council which were assessed as generating the greatest risk to the achievement
of its objectives. The report before the
Sub Committee set out the Plan for 2010/11. Regarding IT
Audits, the Audit Manager confirmed that Deloittes
had been re-appointed to support the in-house audit team (this was a joint
contract with the other Buckinghamshire authorities and Oxford County
Council). Councillor Meacock requested
that consideration be given to including in the audit plan, work relating to
databases and information management. Regarding the lack
of audit days scheduled for 2010/11 for leisure, the Audit Manager confirmed
that leisure was at present scheduled for audit every three years due to the
current risk rating; an audit had been completed in 2009/10. Leisure had been found to be in good order
with sound controls in place. Risk
ratings were reviewed, and, for example, if a new leisure centre was built it
would increase the risk rating.
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Conversion to International Financial Reporting Standards - Progress Update PDF 37 KB Minutes: The
report before the Committee outlined progress on the requirement for local
authorities to convert to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for the reporting of accounting information from
2010/11. A detailed project plan was
included together with a high level implementation timetable. Mick
West advised that part of the 2009/10 external audit would look at the
conversion of the accounts, so it was important the changes were done
correctly. The external auditors were
working closely with the Council’s Finance team, and it was noted that a
Working Group of representatives from the Bucks authorities had been formed to
discuss progress and share knowledge. Despite
the additional work involved, Chiltern was on course to meet the IFRS requirements.
The Head of Financial Services advised that updates would be given on
progress against the Project Plan at Audit Sub Committee meetings.
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Review of the Status of the Audit Sub Committee PDF 43 KB Minutes: The External
Auditors Annual Governance report for 2008/09 had invited the Council to
address the fact that the Audit Sub-Committee was effectively a Scrutiny
Sub-Committee dealing with governance issues. The Committee
therefore received a further report suggesting that, to give sufficient weight
to the mechanism, as suggested by the
External Auditors, the Sub-Committee should be made a standing
Committee. The recommendation
had been endorsed by the Constitution Review Committee at their meeting on 25
February. A suggestion from the Chairman
of the Audit Sub Committee - that authority to monitor the audit fees levied or
proposed by the External Auditors be added to the Terms of Reference of the
Audit Committee - was also endorsed by the Constitution Review Committee. The Constitution
Review Committee had agreed that the Special Responsibility Allowance (SRA)
paid to the Chairman of the Audit Committee would remain the same as that paid
to the Chairman of the Sub Committee. It
was further agreed that no SRA would be paid to the Vice-Chairman of the
Committee. This also reflected the
existing arrangements for the Sub Committee. It was noted that
references to the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) in the proposed
Terms of Reference for the Audit Committee needed to be changed to
Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA). After noting that
the changes would take effect from Annual Council, the Audit Sub Committee
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