Agenda item

(a)       That the final version of the Statement of Accounts 2017/18 be recommended for approval by County Council;

(b)       That the WAO ISA 260 presentation be noted; and

(c)       That the Letter of Representation be recommended for acceptance by County Council.

The Corporate Finance Manager presented the final version of the Statement of Accounts 2017/18 with the Wales Audit Office (WAO) reports in connection with the audit of the financial statements and Letter of Representation for Flintshire County Council.  A full written response had been provided to questions raised at the draft stage with no further queries raised by Members since.  It was confirmed that all material misstatements were presentational only and had been included in the final version.  As part of the Council’s response to the audit findings, attention was drawn to the need to update the accounting policy for accruals of income and expenditure.  It was reassuring to note comments by WAO recognising that the accounts had been prepared to a good standard and supported by detailed and timely working papers.

A copy of the Clwyd Pension Fund Statement of Accounts, for which approval had been delegated to the Clwyd Pension Fund Committee, were also shared for information and completeness.  These had been formally approved on 5 September 2018.

As a change to the usual practice, Richard Harries of WAO presented the ISA 260 report by way of a presentation covering:

·         Overall conclusion

·         Auditor General’s responsibilities

·         Audit position and issues arising from the audit

·         2018-19 and future years

He commented on the high quality of the accounts which would be given an unqualified (‘clean’) audit opinion by the Auditor General for Wales.  He said that there had been positive engagement between Council officers and WAO throughout the process and that the findings had been discussed with management to help identify further improvements.  He explained the concept of materiality adopted for auditing the financial statements and commended the Council’s achievements in completing the work at an earlier stage in advance of changes to statutory deadlines which would be a challenge for all involved.  To facilitate this, discussions were planned to consider how to work together to improve the process to help the Council further develop its early closure arrangements.

The Corporate Finance Manager and Interim Finance Manager were thanked by the Chief Executive and WAO colleagues for their work on the accounts during the audit process.  The Pensions Finance Manager was also thanked for her work on the Clwyd Pension Fund accounts which had been well received.

The Chief Executive welcomed the team effort on the audit and the high level of assurance given by WAO.  He spoke positively about corporate ownership of the accounts and the effective role of the Accounts Governance Group in overseeing the accounts, which would continue.  He said that the retention of sufficient capacity within the Finance function to meet future compressed statutory deadlines should be recognised during forthcoming discussions on budget options for 2019/20.

Following comments on the presentation used to convey the audit findings, Richard Harries said that a considered view would be taken by WAO on the best approach to be used at future meetings.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the final version of the Statement of Accounts 2017/18 be recommended for approval by County Council;

(b)       That the WAO ISA 260 presentation be noted; and

(c)       That the Letter of Representation be recommended for acceptance by County Council.