Agenda and draft minutes

Members to declare any personal or prejudicial interests in any business identified to be considered at this meeting. 

RESOLVED – that no Members declared any personal or prejudicial interests in any business identified to be considered at this meeting.

Notice of items, which in the opinion of the Chair should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency pursuant to Section 100B(4) of the Local Government Act 1972.

No items were raised which in the opinion of the Chair, should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency pursuant to Section 100B(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972.

To receive the minutes of the Corporate Governance Committee meeting held on the 5^th September, 2012 (copy enclosed).

The Minutes of a meeting of the Corporate Governance Committee held on 5^th September, 2012 were submitted.

Matters arising:-

6. Internal Audit Progress Report - In response to a question from Councillor M.L. Holland regarding the submission to the Committee of the final audit report in respect of Home to School Transport Services, the Head of Finance and Assets (HFA) explained that the report, which was currently being finalised, would be circulated to Members of the Corporate Governance Committee when concluded.     

8. Treasury Management Report – In reply to a question from Mr P. Whitham regarding training provision in respect of treasury management, the HFA explained that a report, or training session, would be provided on a quarterly basis with the next session or report scheduled for December, 2012.

RESOLVED – that, subject to the above, the minutes be received and approved as a true and correct record.

To consider a report by the Head of Finance and Assets (copy enclosed) which sought formal approval of the Statement of Accounts.  The audited set of accounts and auditors report will follow.

A copy of a report by the Head of Finance and Assets, which sought Members’ approval of the Council’s Statement of Accounts 2011/12, had been circulated at the meeting.

The Head of Finance and Assets explained that the Council had a statutory duty to produce a statement of accounts which complied with approved accounting standards.  The Financial Statements for 2011/12 had been approved, subject to audit, by the Chief Finance Officer in June, 2012.  The Accounts and Audit Regulations require that the Council formally approves the audited accounts, which contain the external auditor’s opinion, by the end of September, 2012.  Formal approval of the audited accounts, by elected Members on behalf of the Council, had been delegated to the Corporate Governance Committee.  It was confirmed that the accounts had been made available for audit and been open to public inspection.  The Wales Audit Office had submitted an Audit of the Financial Statements Report which included an overview of their findings and an assessment of the process.

The Statement of Accounts, which comprised of 149 pages, had been produced in compliance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) based Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting.  In response to a question from Councillor M.L. Holland, the Chief Accountant provided details pertaining to the IFRS and explained that compliance with IFRS had been a requirement since 2010/11 with the continued introduction of new standards or requirements.  The most notable change for the 2011/12 accounts had been the introduction of a new class of assets referred to as heritage assets, and the Council had in accordance amended its accounting policies and disclosures within the accounts in compliance with the Code of Practice. 

The IFRS accounting standards had been adopted across the world.  However, as some areas of public sector accounting treatment diverged from IFRS, as in legislative requirements, International Public Sector Accounting Standards had been introduced to address these provisions.

The Wales Audit Office had worked closely with the Finance team to ensure the timely and successful finalisation of the audit.  The audit process had resulted in some technical adjustments, other corrections and amendments and details had been included in the Auditor’s Report. 

The Statement of Accounts had again received an unqualified audit opinion which had been a significant achievement given the scale and complexity of the accounts. There had been a major exercise in 2010/11 to successfully produce accounts compliant with new international standards, and the process of implementing IFRS had continued as additional requirements were introduced. Internal procedures would be reviewed annually to ensure that the Council continued to deliver high quality financial statements.  

The Acting Chief Accountant highlighted the complex nature of the accounts and with the aid of a power point presentation provided an overview of the processes adopted.  This included a detailed summary in respect of the following key areas and issues pertaining to the Statement of Accounts:-

·        Overview

·        Accounts

·        Main Financial Statements

·        Process Adopted

·        Link to Revenue Budgets

·        Key Numbers and Notes

·        Audit Process

·        Questions

The presentation provided an overview of the main changes which included the introduction of the new class of heritage assets.  It was confirmed that the Council had in accordance amended its accounting policies and disclosures within the accounts in compliance with the Code of Practice.

In reply to questions from Members of the Committee, the Head of Finance and Assets provided the following responses:-

-          copies of the draft accounts would in future be presented on an annual basis to Members of the Corporate Governance Committee.

-          hard copies of the reports for 2011/12, and for future years, could  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.