Agenda item

This report presents the 2011/2012 Statement of Accounts for approval. The Cabinet is considering this report prior to this meeting and any comments will be reported at the meeting. 

Discussion:

The Chief Finance Officer presented the Council’s draft Statement of Accounts for 2011/2012, which were required under the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2003 (as amended). The Cabinet had considered the Statement of Accounts earlier on 10 July 2012 and recommended to the Committee that it approve the statements as submitted.

It was reported that the final accounts showed a revenue surplus of £2.885 million, which had enabled a contribution to the General Reserve of £2.268 million.The final capital expenditure for 2011/2012 was £75 million with £6 million slipping to future years.The Chief Finance Officer explained the contents of the core financial statements and their accompanying notes.

The summary financial positions for both the Housing Revenue Account and Delegated Schools Budget was also reported, as were the principal variations to agreed budgets.

Robert Grant of PKF, the Council’s external auditor, noted that the closure of the accounts had been on time and the accounts were of an improved standard from the previous year. The Statement of Accounts would now be subject to scrutiny by the external auditors, and additionally interested parties would have the right to inspect the accounts and make representations to the auditor.

Members discussed the contents of the accounts, including consideration as to whether the revenue balance (contingency) of £10m and the insurance fund (used to protect the Council from uninsured losses) of £2m were adequate. Members were advised that liabilities to creditors (as contained within note 13 to the accounts) were set at 31 March 2012 but were also reviewed during the year and, if necessary, would be reported via the budget monitoring process. In response to a Member question the Chief Finance Officer also advised that the Council paid approximately 90% of its invoices within 30 days.

The Committee discussed their role in considering the service implications of the significant variations to agreed budgets, the Committee’s Terms of Reference and the training requirements of Members. The Chief Finance Officer advised that following the Government’s response to the consultation on the Future of Local Public Audit he would review the training available to Members and report back to the next meeting. This training would enable further consideration of the Committee’s Terms of Reference.

During the discussion on this item Members requested that in future the table setting out the ‘summary capital outturn position’, within the covering report, be revised to enable analysis of the reported variance, identifying slippage. This should set out what proportion of the variance was ‘deferred’ to future years and what was attributed to ‘under/overspends’. It was also requested that the table setting out the exit packages awarded to employees (as contained within note 23 to the accounts) should present this information under headings for schools and non-schools.

Decision:

a)     The Audit Committee approved the draft Statement of Accounts for 2011/2012, subject to the correction of typographical errors, for submission to the auditor.

b)     The Audit Committee thanked staff for their work in bring forward the draft Statement of Accounts for 2011/2012.