Meeting documents

To be presented by Grant Thornton Auditors. 

 

Richard Ambrose, Elspeth O’Neil, Rachel Martinig and Julie Edwards attended the meeting to present Grant Thorntons’ draft report on any significant findings from its audit of the Council’s Statement of Accounts and Pensions Fund.

 

Richard Ambrose advised the following:

·         On the 10 June 2015 the Regulatory and Audit Committee received the Unaudited Statement of Accounts for the Council and Pensions Fund.

·         At that stage the audit of the accounts had not commenced.

·         Grant Thornton had now substantially completed the work.

·         Slight adjustments had been made as confirmed below. 

·         It was anticipated that Grant Thornton would provide an unqualified opinion on the financial statements for the Council and Pensions fund.

 

Value for money conclusion (VFM)

·         During the year of audit, in August 2014, a report on the Inspection of Children’s services concluded that, overall, children’s services in the Council were judged to be inadequate.

·         Grant Thornton had recognised the responses made to the issues identified and the actions undertaken as part of a two year strategy to improve children’s services.

·         Whilst progress appeared on track full completion of the improvement programme was not due until later in 2016.

·         With the exception of this issue, Grant Thornton had indicated that they were satisfied that the Council had put in place proper arrangements to secure economy, efficiency and effectiveness in the use of resources for the year ended 31 March 2015.

 

Richard Ambrose thanked Grant Thornton for their support which had resulted in a continued positive working relationship between Grant Thornton and the Council. It was confirmed that the timetable for audit reporting had been brought forward slightly for the coming year 2015/2016 and all parties were confident that the revised deadlines would be met.

 

Statement of Accounts - Bucks County Council (BCC)

Elspeth O’Neil presented this report, where the following points were clarified;

 

·         Two adjustments had been made to the accounts as a consequence of the audit as agreed with Grant Thornton;

                      I.        The defined benefit pension charged adjusted by £2.007m due to an error in apportioning the element that related to Buckinghamshire Care.

                    II.        An adjustment to show the gains from increases in the fair value of Available for Sale Financial Assets as £0.625m of "other comprehensive income" in the CIES.

·         There was no overall impact on the General Fund balance.

·         A number of other disclosure items were also amended as listed on pages 22 and 23 of the report.

·         It was noted that the audit had not yet concluded and further adjustments could be identified.

·         The audit had also identified two unadjusted misstatements as outlined below, which were explained to the committee;

                      I.        (£0.224m) net movement in relation to depreciation charged on revalued assets - estimation techniques.

                    II.        £1.178m difference in relation to the long-term receivable for re-provisioning of Adult Social Care.

·         It was confirmed that these unadjusted misstatements had no overall impact on the statement of accounts.

 

Member Questions

·         A Member queried whether there were any financial concerns following the children’s services Ofsted report?

·         Richard Ambrose advised there were risks in relation to meeting the deadlines within the two year programme, although actions for the majority were currently on track and good progress was being made. He stated that significant additional funding had been agreed, as part of the budget process, to implement the required improvements. However, there was a slight forecast overspend in 2015/16, for which mitigating actions to address these were being formulated. It had been understood by BCC from the outset that it would likely take the full 2 year period to fully implement the required improvements and gain a "good" Ofsted rating.

 

Grant Thornton Audit Report response - Statement of Accounts BCC

Paul Grady attended to provide feedback on the report.

 

·         Paul Grady thanked Richard Ambrose and the wider BCC team for the successful working relationship that had been established.

·         It was confirmed that steps had been taken this year to look at the Statement of Accounts earlier, which had proved successful and would set a good trend for bringing the deadline further forward in the coming year.

·         Paul Grady advised that the detail surrounding the control issues had been included in the report for information purposes only.

·         The internal control issues surrounding last year had been dealt with which was a positive step.

·         It was advised that the Unadjusted items had also been included for information purposes, although they did not have an impact on the general fund position.

·         It was also stated that the BCC accounts were of a good quality and the presentation style made the detail easily accessible to the public which was also positive.

·         Paul Grady advised that Grant Thornton had proposed the audit opinion as Unqualified.

·         Grant Thornton were impressed with BCC and the work carried out to date in relation to the Ofsted report, however improvement measures were only half way completed, as the plan still had a year to fruition, which therefore had been reflected in their VFM opinion.  

 

Member Questions

Question 1

·         A Member queried whether the Amber items highlighted in the report were technical issues only.

·         Paul Grady confirmed that they were technical issues, which had been included in the report for information purposes.

Question 2

·         A Member questioned whether the issue around receiving financial information from schools had been reconciled?

·         Richard Ambrose advised that the issues experienced this year had been disappointing however lessons had been learnt. In future schools would be approached directly and much earlier on in the process to avoid any delay, especially as the deadlines for reporting will be even earlier in the coming year.

 

The chairman thanked Grant Thornton for their report.

 

Statement of Accounts- Pension Fund

Julie Edwards presented this report, where the following points were clarified;

·         As a consequence of the audit the amounts disclosed in Note 9, p85, Investments for the purchases, sales, realised and unrealised profit amounts were amended

·         The chairman thanked the team for the very complex and comprehensive report.

 

Grant Thornton Audit Report response - Statement of Accounts Pensions Fund

Ade Oyerinde attended to provide feedback on the report.

·         BCC were again thanked for the quality of information supplied, both in the accounts and supporting documentation.

·         It was advised that the audit had not identified any issues in respect of Level 3 Investment.

·         There were no material changes from the draft set of accounts.

·         Grant Thornton proposed an Unqualified consistency with opinion on the financial statements in the Pension Fund Annual report. 

 

The Chairman thanked Grant Thornton for their detailed report.

 

RECOMMENDATION

 

That the Committee considers its response to the matters raised by Grant Thornton in their Audit Findings Report 2014-15 and agrees that the Statement of Accounts for Buckinghamshire County Council and Pension Fund for the financial year ended 31 March 2015 can be signed by the Chairman of the Committee.

 

That the Committee approves the Letters of Representation on behalf of the Council and Pension Fund and agrees that it can be signed by the Chairman of the Committee.

 

That the Committee agrees the response to the proposed action plan within the Audit Findings Report for the Council and Pension Fund.

 

DECISION - The Committee agreed to all the above recommendations.

 

The Chairman thanked all involved in the accounts for the very comprehensive and detailed reports.