Agenda item

To present the Statement of Accounts, subject to audit, for the year ended 31 March 2023 to the Joint Committee for approval.

Accept and approve the Statement of Accounts, subject to audit, for the year ending 31 March 2023

The Statement of Accounts was presented by the Assistant Head of Finance, who confirmed that the Accounts and Audit (Wales) Regulations 2014 require the Joint Committee to prepare annual accounts. As GwE's turnover exceeds £2.5 million, full accounts must be prepared rather than an annual return as prepared for smaller Joint Committees, which are much more straightforward. 

 

It was confirmed that the accounts had been completed and released since the end of June for audit by Auditors Wales. 

 

As a side-effect of Covid, there had been an extension in the statutory timetable for auditing accounts, with the audit completion date being the end of November this year. As a result, a post-audit version will be presented at the December meeting. 

 

At the meeting on 24 May, a report was had on the year-end financial position for 2022/23, in a simple outturn format. It was reported that an overspend of £139K arose from intentional expenditure on prioritising essential plans during the year to support schools, however that it was funded from reserves. However, the Statement of Accounts in a standard format is for external and governance purposes. 

 

Although the document is lengthy, it was noted that it conforms to the CIPFA standard format in terms of the main statements. It was noted that: 

 

The Narrative Report presents information regarding the accounts and GwE's vision and priorities, financial strategy, financial performance and elaborates on the main matters. Table 2 marries the position reported in the year-end outturn with that in the Income and Expenditure Statement in the Accounts. 

 

The Movement in Reserves Statement summarises GwE's financial position, and this statement marries the income and expenditure position with the balance sheet position and includes information about both usable and unusable reserves. It was confirmed that there had been a substantial movement in unusable reserves over the year. It was noted that usable reserves, i.e., GwE reserves had reduced by £2K by the end of March 2023 to £1.154 million. 

 

Note 10 provides an analysis of GwE general reserves and NQT reserves. £139K has been used to fund overspend over the year and £137K placed in the NQT fund over the year.  

 

Note 15 - Unusable Reserves shows a movement of £9 million due to the pensions situation. It was confirmed that pensions have moved from being commitments to assets, and that this is a general picture seen, due to market conditions in general. This has resulted in there being considerable movement in the balance sheet position of Joint Committees and Local Authorities. 

 

In terms of Officers' Remuneration, it was confirmed that inflation means that there are more salary bands in 2022/23 compared to 2021/22. 

 

Reference was made to the £2.8 million reduction in Grant Income between both years. It was noted that several one-off grants had been received in 2021/22 as a side-effect of Covid, a number being substantial and late in the year, however that such grants have not been received in 2022/23, which is a similar situation to that of the Councils.  

 

It was confirmed that there were no exit packages in 2022/23 and 2021/22. 

 

It was noted that there had been a movement in Pension figures due to market conditions. 

 

The Joint Committee was asked to note and accept the Statement of GwE Accounts (subject to audit). 

 

IT WAS RESVOLVED 

 

To note and accept the Statement of Accounts, subject to audit, for the year ending 31 March 2023.