Issue - meetings

Report No:   CAB/SE/16/049

Portfolio Holder: Ian HoulderLead Officer: Rachael Mann

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL: (20 December 2016) 

That Option 3, to ‘opt-in’ to the sector led body (Public Sector Audit Appointments Limited (PSAA)) for the independent appointment of the Council’s External Auditor, beginning with responsibilities for the financial year 2018-2019, as set out in Report No: PAS/SE/16/021, be approved.

The Cabinet considered Report No: CAB/SE/16/049, which sought approval for a preferred option for making appropriate arrangements for the appointment of external auditors.

Following the closure of the Audit Commission, and the end of the transitional arrangements, it was now the Council’s statutory responsibility to appoint, by 31 December 2017, a local external auditor to audit its 2018/2019 accounts.  In meeting this statutory responsibility the Council could choose one of the following options, each of which had been considered in detail by the Performance and Audit Scrutiny Committee, as highlighted at this Cabinet meeting by Councillor Ian Houlder, Portfolio Holder for Resources and Performance:

Option 1:     Establish a stand-alone Auditor Panel to make the appointment on behalf of the Council;

Option 2:     Commence work on exploring the establishment of local joint procurement arrangements with neighbouring authorities; or

Option 3:     Use an existing independent panel of the Authority (this would only be applicable where a suitably constituted plan already existed).

Report No: PAS/SE/16/021 presented to the Performance and Audit Scrutiny Committee had set out in detail the advantages and disadvantages for each of the above three options; risk management; legal and financial implications.

Of these three options, the Cabinet supported the recommendations of the Committee and recommended that Option 3 be approved, as this was considered to provide better economies of scale in keeping audit fees down, with the added benefit of having a Suffolk-wide auditor.

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL:

That Option 3, to ‘opt-in’ to the sector led body (Public Sector Audit Appointments Limited (PSAA)) for the independent appointment of the Council’s External Auditor, beginning with responsibilities for the financial year 2018-2019, as set out in Report No: PAS/SE/16/021, be approved.