Issue - meetings

To present the Detailed Audit Plan for the NWEAB Joint Committee provided by Audit Wales.

To accept the Audit Wales report which highlighted the NWEAB's Audit Plan for 2024.

The report was submitted by the Audit Wales representative.

RESOLVED

To accept the Audit Wales report which highlighted the NWEAB's Audit Plan for 2024.

REASONS FOR THE DECISION

To examine the financial statements of the North Wales Economic Ambition Board Joint-committee to ensure that public funds are properly accounted for.

The Joint Committee must put in place arrangements to get value for money for the resources it uses, and the Auditor General must be satisfied that it has done this.

DISCUSSION

Committee members were guided through the Detailed Audit Plan 2023-24 outlining the fee, recognised risks, information about the audit team and the time taken to complete the audit.

It was announced that the material level had been noted as £83,000. It was explained that this figure had been calculated by finding 2% (percentage relevance) of gross expenditure during the 2023-24 financial year (£4.159 million). It was noted that this fee was higher than the previous year due to an increase in gross expenditure. It was elaborated that a lower relevance level had been set for some areas of the accounts as they could be more important to the users of the accounts. It was explained that those areas were 'Senior officer remuneration' and 'Related party disclosures'.

Attention was drawn to one significant risk that had been identified following an assessment of inherent risk. It was confirmed that the risk was that Managers could override controls. It was explained that the risk had been identified for Exhibit 1: significant financial statement risk, and that it was identified in all audit plans for each Body in Wales. It was emphasised that this was not a risk that had been identified for this Board alone. It was assured that Audit Wales ensured that their procedures responded to this risk.

It was explained that 'Valuation of pension fund net liability' had been noted as a risk within Exhibit 2: other areas of focus, as an Audit Risk. It was noted that this risk was general in nature and would be found in a number of recent audit plans. It was stressed that this risk had not been identified for this Board alone.

The audit timetable was detailed noting that the Detailed Audit Planning work had been completed in July 2024 and the audit work had been completed in August 2024. It was noted that it was intended to submit a further report to the Board in November.

It was highlighted that fees for 2024-25 had increased by 6.4% as a result of inflation. It was estimated that the audit fee total would be £26,754, stressing that a refund would be submitted to the Board if the actual fee was lower, as Audit Wales was unable to make a profit.

The officers who had been collaborating with Audit Wales to respond to any queries throughout the audit process, were thanked.