Agenda item

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 Cyngor Gwynedd

·         To accept and approve the Statement of Accounts for 2021/22 (post-audit) - Chair of the Committee to authorise the Statement of Responsibilities regarding the Statement of Accounts 

·         The Chair of the Committee and the Head of Finance Department to certify the Letter of Representation electronically

·         To congratulate the officers for their work and to accept the statement without condition

a)    Submitted – the report of the Head of Finance Department, requesting that the Committee consider and approve the Statement of Accounts 2021/22 (post-audit), Audit Wales's 'ISA260' report and the Letter of Representation (Appendix 1 to the Audit Wales report), before authorising the Chair to certify the letter electronically.

The Cabinet Member for Finance noted that the Officers had released the accounts to Audit Wales on 13-06-2022 so that Audit Wales could prepare a report for approval by the Committee. The Members were reminded that draft accounts were submitted to the Committee on 08-09-2022, where the main matters and relevant notes had been highlighted.

The Head of Finance added that there had been a delay this year in obtaining the report from Audit Wales because of a technical matter related to infrastructure, which meant that the 2021/22 final accounts of all Welsh Local Authorities would be approved in January 2023. He thanked all the officers who had been involved in the process.

The Assistant Head of Finance – Accountancy and Pensions guided the Members through the report and highlighted that there had been minor amendments to the one submitted to the Committee in September 2022. She drew attention to the following:

·         Note 15 – Property, Plant and Equipment – To comply with national requirements, infrastructure had been removed from the main table in Note 15 for the two years and had been added as a separate section

·         Because of high inflation, compared with consistently low inflation over the past years, there had been implications on the valuation, therefore the usual arrangements had been revised. Consequently, the valuation was higher in response to the higher inflation.

·         Note 15 – Property, Plant and Equipment – there had been a review of assets that had fully depreciated but which remained on the assets register. Those that had ceased to be in operation had been derecognised and removed from the note.

·         Note 19 – Cash and Cash Equivalents – an amendment to the arrangements for stating figures relating to the Pension Fund – an adjustment to the overdraft element and then a corresponding adjustment on the creditors (adjustment for 2021/22 and 2020/21).

·         Note 30 – Officers' Remuneration – minor amendments partly due to a discrepancy between CIPFA directions and the Act (CIPFA directions had been followed)

·         Note 35 – Leases – Cwmni Cynnal had ceased at the end of March 2022, but still appeared in the note – it no longer needed to be included.

·         Note 27 – Expenditure and Income Analysed by Nature – a technical adjustment relating to income classification (no impact on the bottom line, but rather between two sub-headings) 

Reference was made to the two recommendations by Audit Wales. 

1.    Following a review of short-term creditors, the Council's creditors had been overstated by £274k on 31/03/2022. It was explained that this was down to a matter of timing and although the creditors required inclusion previously, the situation had changed by the end of the financial year and thus the amount should have been removed. Since the sum of £274k was not material, the adjustment would be made in the 2022/23 accounts.

2.    Further review and strengthen working papers to provide a clear audit trail.

Officers intended to cooperate with Audit Wales on the recommendations for the 2022/23 accounts.

b)    Gratitude was expressed for the presentation

c)    In response to a question regarding the £247k and its relevance, with a total potential risk of £3,308,000, it was noted that the £274k was the error total because of the value of the former creditors compared with the current creditors.

In response to a question regarding the use of the CIPFA guide and thus the need to contact CIPFA to state that their guide was contradictory to the Act, it was noted that there would be an opportunity to highlight this during a meeting with CIPFA on 31-01-23

ch) Yvonne Thomas (Audit Wales) was invited to present the 'ISA260' report. She explained that the auditors could never provide complete assurance that the accounts had been correctly stated, instead they worked to a level of ‘materiality’. She noted that the auditors intended to issue an unqualified audit opinion on the accounts, once the Letter of Representation had been signed. The Officers were thanked for their cooperation.

d)    The Finance Department was congratulated on the work, and the committee was satisfied that an unqualified statement had been received.

RESOLVED

·         To accept and approve the 'ISA260’ report by Audit Wales in respect of Cyngor Gwynedd

·         To accept and approve the Statement of Accounts for 2021/22 (post-audit) – the Chair of the Committee to certify the Statement of Responsibilities regarding the Statement of Accounts 

·         The Chair of the Committee and the Head of Finance Department to certify the Letter of Representation electronically

·         To congratulate the officers for their work of securing an unqualified statement