The Committee received Report No:
PAS/SE/17/020, which presented the results of Ernst and
Young’s (EY) audit of the financial statements for
2016-2017.
The report set out those issues they were
formally required to report on to those charged with
governance.
The report also included the results of the
work that EY had undertaken to assess the Council’s
arrangements to secure value for money in the use of its
resources.
The Council’s unaudited 2016-2017
statement of accounts, signed by the Council’s Chief Finance
Officer (Section 151 Officer) on 12 June 2017, had been updated to
reflect adjustments recommended by EY from their audit
work. Members were advised that the
adjustments were all immaterial to the overall financial position
of the Council and were in most cases merely presentational
changes.
A copy of the Audit Committee summary was
attached at Appendix A, and were presented to the Committee by Mark
Hodgson (Executive Director) and Mark Russell (Assistant Manager)
from EY. Also attached as Appendix B to
the report was a Letter of Representation, on behalf of the Council
in accordance with the audit of the financial statement for St
Edmundsbury Borough Council for the year ended 31 March
2017.
Mr Hodgson confirmed that all work on the
audit of the Councils 2016-2017 financial statements had been
concluded and no further errors had been identified. Therefore, EY would be issuing an unqualified
opinion on the Financial Statements for 2016-2017 this afternoon
(20 September 2017) prior to the statutory deadline of 30 September
2017 stating the Council had proper arrangements in securing
economy, efficiency and effectiveness in its use of
resources. He wished to thank the
Assistant Director (Resources and Performance) and her team who had
been helpful and instrumental in making this a very smooth audit
for EY.
However, he wished to draw the
Committee’s attention to five key areas:
1)
On page 19 – EY would be working towards a £1.3m
materiality;
2)
On page 20 – there had been no unadjusted audit
differences.
3)
On page 21 – only the standard representations had been
requested.
4)
Section 2 (Risks) – there were no significant risks to
report.
5)
Section 5 (Value for Money) – no risks had been
identified.
Members asked a number of questions in
relation to the report, to which Mr Hodgson duly responded.
The Committee noted that from April 2017 that
the Accounts and Audit Regulations had changed requiring the
Council in future would have to submit draft accounts to EY by 31
May each year, with member scrutiny and approval of the accounts
required once the audit had been concluded by 31 July each
year.
The Chairman, on behalf of the Committee
wished to thank the Assistant Director (Resources and Performance)
and the Finance Team for their outstanding work and also wished to
thank EY for their audit work, and presenting a positive
report.
Councillor David Roach moved the
recommendation, this was duly seconded by Councillor Beccy
Hopfensperger and with the vote being unanimous, it was:
RESOLVED ...
view the full minutes text for item 167.