To submit the statutory
financial statements for 2016/17.
a) To submit the revised statutory
financial statements by the Head of Finance for the Committee’s approval.
b)(i) To
submit the formal “ISA 260” report to “those charged with governance” by external
auditors Deloitte on behalf of the Auditor General for Wales on the 2016/17
Statement of Accounts for Gwynedd Council.
b)(ii) To authorise the Committee Chairman and the
Head of Finance to sign the “letter of representation” on behalf of the Audit
and Governance Committee, which is charged with governance in relation to
approving the statutory financial statements for Gwynedd Council (Appendix 1 to
the report of the external auditors Deloitte on behalf of the Auditor General
for Wales in (b)(i) above)
c)(i) To submit the formal “ISA 260” report to
“those charged with governance” by the external auditors Deloitte on behalf of
the Auditor General for Wales on the 2016/17 Statement of Accounts for the
Pension Fund.
c)(ii) To authorise the Committee Chairman and the
Head of Finance to sign the “letter of representation” on behalf of the Audit
and Governance Committee, which is charged with governance in relation to
approving the statutory financial statements for the Pension Fund (Appendix 1
to the report of the external auditors Deloitte on behalf of the Auditor
General for Wales in (c)(i) above)
Minutes:
i) Statement of the Accounts
The Head of Finance Department submitted the revised
statutory financial statements for approval by the committee. He stated that
the reports by Deloitte on behalf of the Wales Audit Office noted the main
changes to the accounts since the pre-audit version was submitted to the
Committee’s meeting on 13 July.
ii) Report of the Appointed
Auditor on the Audit of Financial Statements
a) The Council’s Accounts
In
accordance with the Annual Audit procedure, namely the Appointed Auditor’s
report for those charged with governance, the report by Deloitte on behalf of
the Auditor General for Wales was submitted by Ian Howse, Financial Audit
Engagement Leader, Deloitte.
It
was reported that the Auditor General intended to issue an unqualified audit
report on Gwynedd Council’s accounts for 2016/17.
The
following main observations were made:
·
There were no
uncorrected misstatements to report;
·
There was one
misstatement that had been corrected to their satisfaction;
·
No matters which required attention had been
highlighted by the audit team in relation to the significant risks that were
tested;
·
The accounts team were praised for the quality of
the accounts and thanked for their cooperation with the Deloitte audit team.
A member noted that he was pleased
with the praise for the accounts team.
In response to an enquiry by a member regarding the provision of bad
debt, the Head of Finance Department stated that the accounts gave a snapshot
of the situation on the final day of accounts. He explained that there was less
likelihood of collecting older debts and that the Council was using an
increasingly higher percentage of "loss" for the previous years'
debts. He noted that the officers agreed with the auditor's recommendation,
namely - "... that the percentages used to generate the sundry debts
provision are formally reviewed on an annual basis and that an analysis of
collection rates is used to inform the percentages determined."
In response to a question by a member, the Financial Audit Engagement
Leader for Deloitte stated that the level of bad debt provision by the Council
was fairly consistent with other councils.
b) Gwynedd Pension Fund
Accounts
The Deloitte Financial Audit Engagement Leader noted that the Auditor
General intended to issue an unqualified audit opinion on the accounts of the
Gwynedd Pension Fund for 2016/17.
The following main observations were noted:
·
In relation to the misstatements that were not
corrected, the auditors' examinations found that there was a judgmental
misstatement on properties and private equity investments. As this was a matter
of opinion, they were satisfied that it would remain uncorrected;
·
No new recommendations stemmed from the financial
audit work for 2016/17 and details of the follow-up work on the 2015/16
recommendations were to be found in Appendix 3 of the report.
The Chair noted that he was pleased that the Council was in a good
position and was fulfilling the requirements.
The Cabinet Member for Finance stated his appreciation of
the Deloitte auditing team’s work. He added that he was pleased that the
Auditor General intended to issue unqualified audit reports
that reflected the good work produced by the officers in preparing the
accounts. He expressed his appreciation of the work.
RESOLVED that the Audit Committee, with the power delegated by the Council to be “those charged with governance” in relation to approving the statutory financial statements and the relevant audits, approve the amended statutory financial statements, accept the related reports by Deloitte on behalf of the Auditor General for Wales, and authorise the Head of Finance Department and Chairman of the Committee to sign the "letters of representation" relating to the Council's accounts and the Pension Fund accounts and submit them to the Auditor General for Wales.
Supporting documents: