Agenda item
- Meeting of Governance and Audit Committee, Thursday, 14th October, 2021 10.00 am (Item 5.)
- View the background to item 5.
Submitted:
· Statement of Accounts post-Audit;
· Audit Wales’ ‘ISA260’ report;
· Letter of Representation (Appendix 1).
To consider and approve the information before authorising the Chairman to certify the letter
Decision:
·
To accept and approve the 'ISA260’ report
by Audit Wales in respect of Gwynedd Council
·
To
accept and approve the Statement of Accounts for 2020/21 (post-audit)
·
The
Chair of the Committee and the Head of Finance Department to certify the Letter
of Representation electronically
Minutes:
Submitted – the report of the Head of Finance Department, requesting that the Committee considered and approved the Statement of Accounts 2020/21 (post-audit), Audit Wales' 'ISA260' report and the Letter of Representation (Appendix 1 to the
Audit Wales report), before authorising the Chair to certify the letter electronically.
It was reported that
there were minor amendments to the version submitted to the Committee in June 2021 and
the following were highlighted:
·
Note 15 - Property,
Plant and Equipment - reduction of £2.9 million in the value of assets,
following a correction to the valuer's original figures
·
adjustment between
accounts mainly relating to the valuation of 35 schools as a result of issues
in inputting technical categories that needed to be checked. The amendment had
not affected the value of the assets, rather it had let to a reduction of £20.7
million in the re-valuation and impairments figures.
·
Added more details
about the main capital commitments including Ysgol y Faenol,
Cymerau, Glancegin and Hafod Mawddach Dementia Unit.
·
Note 19 - Cash and
Cash equivalent - change to the handling of GwE
Joint-committee finance, which was now shown in Gwynedd's accounts - this had
led to reducing the bank overdraft of £5.96 million and increasing the
short-term creditors in Note 21 by the same amount. Consequently, there were
implications to the principal instruments, namely the Balance Sheet, Cash-flow
Statement and movements in reserves and the Comprehensive Income and
Expenditure Statement.
·
Added figures to the
narrative in:
o
Note 28 - Agency
Services - added details about two education grants (did not entail any
adjustments to the figures in the accounts). £33.4 million from the Regional
Consortia Schools Improvement Grant and £20 million from the Pupil Development
Grant.
o
Note 39 - Contingent
Liabilities - no impact on the statement figures only to increase the figure
included in the sentence by £450k.
It was confirmed that
the audit of Gwynedd Harbour
accounts had been completed and there
was no need to resubmit them to the Committee.
Derwyn Owen (Wales Audit) was invited to submit the 'ISA260' report. He noted that the auditors intended to issue an unqualified
audit opinion on the accounts this year, once
the Letter of Representation
had been signed. He provided details on: -
·
The effects of
Covid-19 on this year's audit
·
Proposed Audit
Opinion
·
Significant issues
arising from the audit, including uncorrected misstatements and other
significant matters
·
Recommendations
The Accountants were
thanked for their cooperation and thorough work.
The need to check valuers' work in
future was accepted.
The Finance Department was congratulated
on the work and for presenting
the information in a coherent way.
RESOLVED
·
To accept and approve the 'ISA260’ report by Audit Wales in respect of
Gwynedd Council
·
To accept and approve the Statement of Accounts for 2020/21 (post-audit)
·
The Chair of the Committee and the Head of Finance Department to certify
the Letter of Representation electronically.
Supporting documents:
- Report - Final Accounts 2020-21, item 5. PDF 208 KB
- Statement of Accounts 2020.21, item 5. PDF 948 KB
- Audit Wales report, item 5. PDF 608 KB