Report of: the Head of Financial Services

Purpose of report: to submit the Council’s Statement of Accounts and Letter of Representation for approval and authorisation.

The Statement of Accounts and supporting documentation are attached as a separate supplement (to follow)

Recommendations: That the Committee:

1.      approve the audited Statement of Accounts as certified by the Head of Financial Services and authorise the Chair of the Committee to sign the Accounts; and

2.      approve the Letter of Representation to enable the opinion to be issued

The Committee considered the report of theHead of Financial Services and the final Council’s Statement of Accounts and Letter of Representation for approval and authorisation.

Bill Lewis (Financial Accounting Manager) explained the change in the accounts as a result of restating pension fund liabilities in light of the recent McCloud court case.

He reported that in paragraphs 26 and 27 ‘decrease’ should replace ‘increase’: the figures were correct.

As noted above, the audit work was not yet completed but it was anticipated that the statement of accounts would not be altered materially between the committee’s consideration of them and the conclusion of the audit.

The Committee therefore concluded that the accounts, on the basis that these were complete and correct and not subject to material alterations, and the letter of representation could be signed by the Chair at the conclusion of the audit in order that the final audit opinion could be issued and the Statement of Accounts published as soon as practicable.

The Committee resolved:

1.    to approve the Statement of Accounts and Letter of Representation as presented to them;

and provided there were no material alterations to the Statement of Accounts or alterations to the Letter of Representation as presented to this Committee, and when the final Audit report has been received from the Councils auditors Ernst and Young

2.    to authorise the Section 151 Officer, in consultation with Chair of Audit and Governance, to approve the final Statement of Accounts for 2018/19 as amended to reflect the outcome of the audit; and

3.    to authorise the Chair of Audit and Governance on the Committee’s behalf to sign the Statement of Accounts and Letter of Representation in conjunction with the Head of Financial Services to allow the final audit opinion to be issued.