Meeting documents

1.

MINUTES

(1)

That the minutes of 24th May, 2007, be approved as a correct record.

(2)

That the minutes of the Audit Panel of 27th March, 2007, be noted.

2.

AUDIT MANAGER LETTER 2005-06 AND ANNUAL STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE

(i)

that the Council's external auditors had issued the Annual Audit and Inspection Letter for their audit based upon the 2005-06 accounts.  The report covered the Council accounts for the 2005-06 year together with the “direction of travel” assessment and the results of the Council's “use of resources” assessment.

(ii)

that as a part of the process of the Council formally issuing the Statement of Accounts for 2006-07 by the end of June, the draft statement of accounts and outturn position 2006-07 would be reported to Cabinet on 26th June.

(iii)

that the Annual Statement of Assurance on the management of the Council's affairs (Appendix B), signed by the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive, would also be published with the statement of accounts.  Members were advised that although no significant issues of concern had been identified in the statement, paragraph 6 included comment on a number of issues that the Council needed to address now to demonstrate a proper level of internal control.

(iv)

that the Council's Internal Audit Manager's Annual Report (Appendix A), had provided an independent and objective opinion, covering the period from the April 2006 to the end of January 2007, on risk management, control and governance and their effectiveness in achieving the Council's agreed objectives.  The auditor's opinion had been that the Council's key systems were operating soundly and that there was no fundamental breakdown of controls which might result in material weakness sufficient to qualify the overall audit opinion.

a.

Housing Revenue Account – on the position relating to its operation.

b.

Sale of former Council houses – on how this process was now managed with the Vale of Aylesbury Housing Trust.

c.

Gershon Efficiency Agenda – an explanation was provided on the cashable/non-cashable efficiency savings targets set by Government.  Members were advised that the progress made in achieving the targets was regularly reported to Cabinet and to Government.

d.

Audit Plan – the Committee was advised that the Head of Finance and the Internal Audit Manager were currently bringing together an Audit Plan for future audit work that would be reported to the Committee in due course.

e.

Capital Programme (Major Projects) – an explanation was provided on the audit control processes that had to be undertaken on significant projects, including formally reporting them to Council for approval.  Members were advised that one of the responsibilities of the Audit Committee was to assure itself that the right processes were in place to support the delivery of major projects, and that the processes were robust and were being followed.

f.

Risk Management post – the Committee was informed that this post had just been evaluated and agreed, and would be advertised in the near future.

(1)

That the contents of the External Auditor's Management Letter for their audit based upon the 2005-06 accounts be noted.

(2)

That the contents of the Annual Statement of Assurance be noted, and Cabinet be advised that the Audit Committee have no comments that they wish to pass on to Cabinet to be taken into account when the statement is adopted as part of the Statement of Accounts.

(3)

That the Head of Finance and the Internal Audit Manager be requested to take into account the comments at (a) – (g) above in setting the Committee's future Work Programme.

3.

DATE AND TIME OF FUTURE MEETINGS

4.

WORK PROGRAMME