Issue - meetings

That the Wales Audit Office reports be noted.

The Chief Executive introduced the Wales Audit Office (WAO) Audit Plan for 2016 in respect of proposed audit work on the accounts for the Council and those of the Clwyd Pension Fund for 2015/16.  The report detailed the legal requirements for work on financial and performance audits to be undertaken by WAO.  It was explained that the audit fees were comparable with other councils and that audits on the Taith Joint Committee were no longer required.

Ms. Amanda Hughes of WAO explained that the conclusion of the financial audit work required an opinion to be given on the financial statements.  This included consideration of the level of risks of material misstatement as set out in Exhibit 2 of the WAO reports.  A number of the risks highlighted were common across all councils.  Specifically for Flintshire, there were a number of issues arising from the 2014/15 audit work including accounting for gross income and expenditure and allocation of internal costs.  Whilst she was aware that the Council had completed work to address these issues in the year, this would be reviewed again as part of audit work for 2015/16.  Financial audit work for the Clwyd Pension Fund would address the risks set out in Exhibit 2 of its audit plan, including the risks associated with the large percentage of unquoted investments in its portfolio.  The WAO report on the certification of grants and returns for 2014/15 would be received at next meeting.

On performance there was some internal uncertainty over planning which meant that the specific programme could not yet be clarified at this point.  Public service bodies would shortly be consulted on the approach to performance audit work by WAO.  It was explained by Mr. Paul Goodlad that the uncertainty around performance work applied to all councils in Wales and was likely to focus on finance, governance and the transformation and change agenda.  The final outcome would be shared and WAO would liaise with the Council on work within the Audit Plan to avoid any duplication of work, for example the Flintshire Connects audit planned for 2016/17.

The Chief Executive said that the refreshed approach to performance audit work would still need to identify major risk areas and seek value for money, and that there was no expectation of major increases in the work or fees of WAO.

On the financial audit, Councillor Arnold Woolley felt that two separate paragraphs in the WAO report contradicted the approach taken to not reporting misstatements below the relevant threshold whilst giving assurance that the financial statements were free from material misstatement.

Ms. Hughes provided explanation on the treatment of misstatements below the ‘trivial’ level, commenting that some elements were material by nature.  This did not change the requirement to report an opinion, however she agreed to feedback the comments.

Councillor Woolley also enquired about any risks or required mitigation arising from the substantial reduction in the grant to subsidise performance audit work by WAO.  Mr. Goodlad said that the reduction in the grant  ...  view the full minutes text for item 57