Agenda item

The Chairman explained to members that the un-audited statement of accounts were being presented to members for discussion in place of an informal workshop that would usually be held before the audited accounts would be signed off. He invited feedback after the meeting to see how members felt about the approach.

The Lead Specialist, Finance (Deputy 151 Officer) introduced the report that presented the 2020/21 un-audited Statement of Accounts to Audit Committee for comment. He explained that audited Statement of Accounts would be brought to the committee on the 25^th November for approval. The unaudited statement of accounts were published on the SSDC website by the 31st July 2021, which was the statuary deadline, but has missed the statutory deadline for publishing audited accounts of 30th September.

This year the narrative statement had been revised to provide more information about the strategic direction of the council and gave a more comprehensive picture of the 2020/21 financial performance. The narrative statement would be updated for the audited statements to include updated information on the MTFP that would be presented to District Executive in October. He then proceeded to talk members through each of the core statements.

In response to questions from members, the Lead Specialist, Finance gave the following responses:

·         The final set of statements would explain what minus, plus and brackets indicated for each table.

·         Further details about the Minimum Revenue Position (MRP) was explained on page 83 of the agenda.

·         A further breakdown of Local Government Change reserves would be provided to members.

·         S106 money was invested as per Treasury Management Strategy guidelines until needed.

The S151 Officer acknowledged the difficulty members and stakeholders had in reading and understanding the Statement of Accounts. Part of the Redmond Review’s recommendations were for councils to produce a standard simplified statement that would aim to enhance understanding of the accounts, and a briefing on this was being brought to the next Audit Committee meeting. She thanked the Lead Specialist and the Finance Team for the work undertaken in producing the accounts.

The Manager, Grant Thornton and The Monitoring Officer both responded to a query about how SSDC accounts would be approved after Local Government Reform and they both gave some insight into what may happen, post-vesting day. It was understood that there would be some formal processes in place to ensure legacy issues relating to accounts and audits were completed.

In response to a query from the Audit Committees independent member, The S151 Officer suggested a written response could be provided to answer the various questions on Opium Power loans, and would take advice from the Monitoring Officer on the best way to relay the information to members.

There were no further questions and at the end of discussions, members were content to note the report.

RESOLVED:  Audit members reviewed the draft statement of accounts and noted that it is anticipated that the audited statement of accounts, along with the external auditor’s opinion on them, will be presented to its meeting on 25^th November 2021.

It was also resolved to hold a training session on the statement of accounts prior to the next Audit Committee and that the feedback from the Audit Committee was that they preferred this approach in the future.