Issue - meetings

The Chairman welcomed External Auditor Kay McClennon to her first meeting. Suresh Patel introduced the Plan, which detailed the way in which External Audit planned to carry out its Audit for 2017/18 in accordance with the relevant laws and guidance.

Minor amendment

It was noted that the word “not” should be added to last sentence in the penultimate paragraph on page 49 regarding the risk that the Council faced in preparing its accounts within the more stringent deadlines.

It was suggested that it was unnecessary to produce reports in colour as this cost more to produce. However, it was also suggested that the colour in the report aided presentation.

Challenges

It was noted that Accountancy were facing a number of challenges including

·         The introduction of a new Financial Management System.

·         The introduction of a new Asset register.

·         Staff turnover.

It was noted that the Council needed to ensure that it had proper arrangements in place to secure value for money in the use of its resources.

Project plan

Suresh Patel reported that the Council had drawn up a detailed project plan for the preparation of the final accounts. This had been reviewed by EY and a number of amendments were agreed as a result. He further added that EY’s own plan for auditing the accounts had been drawn up in accordance with this plan. It was noted that EY had a schedule for carrying out their reviews and whilst this authority was to be reviewed at the end of this schedule, this work would not be delayed by other authorities being unable to meet their deadlines.

Timetable

Concern was expressed that the planned testing, which was due to take place in March, had not yet been completed. Suresh Patel and Kay McClennon outlined some of the areas where the Council had yet to provided information, including the control account reconciliations. Kay stated that External Audit would review the timetable every week. The Committee agreed that Suresh Patel should liaise with the Chairman on any future slippage on the planned timetable and EY would provide an update by the end of April.

It was noted that the value of housing assets had delayed the signing off of the 2016/17 accounts. Suresh Patel explained that the purpose of having an agreed timetable this year was to prevent any avoidable delays. The Executive Director explained that the discrepancy regarding the value of the authority’s housing assets had been resolved.

The Committee NOTED the External Audit Plan for 2017/18.