Agenda and minutes

Venue: Hurstwood Room, Public Service Plaza, Civic Centre Road, Havant, Hampshire PO9 2AX. View directions

Contact: Mark Gregory  Democratic Services Officer

Link: watch_the_meeting

Items
No. Item

12.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Prad Bains, Guest, Kennett and Gary Robinson.

13.

Declarations of Interests

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interests relating to matters on the agenda.

14.

Statement of Accounts 2019/20 And Letter Of Representation - Havant Borough Council pdf icon PDF 202 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received the Statement of Accounts and Letter of Representation for 2019/20. The Committee noted details of amendments made to the Accounts since the report was published.

 

The Statement of Accounts detailed the Council’s financial position against budgets in 2019/20, including core financial statements and supporting information, while also outlining arrangements for 2020/21 onwards. The Letter of Representation set out the Council’s response to the external auditors and explanation of the unadjusted audit difference.

 

The Committee was advised of the reasons for the delay in producing these accounts and given an assurance that the external auditors and Council were working together to improve the process

 

RESOLVED that the;

 

 (a)         Statement of Accounts for 2019/20 be agreed, that the Chairman certifies the approval by signing the relevant page of the accounts and the s151 Officer certify the approval of the Accounts by signing the relevant pages of the Accounts; and

 

(b)          Letter of Representation as attached as Appendix A to these minutes be agreed and the Chairman of the Committee and s151 Officer sign the letter.

15.

Annual Audit Results Report 2019/20 pdf icon PDF 120 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the External Audit Results Report for the year ending 31 March 2020. The external auditors joined the meeting for the debate on this item and answered members’ questions in connection with the report.

 

The Audit Results Report summarised the findings from the 2019/20 audit. The Committee were informed that a majority of outstanding items detailed in the report had been completed and had not impacted upon the opinions contained within the report. The Committee were also informed of errors and changes to the report which had been identified since the report was published. It was noted that the errors and changes were less than previous years.

 

The Committee was advised that there were three unadjusted audit differences which would be explained in the Council’s letter of Representation.

 

The Cabinet Lead advised on arrangements put in place to improve the property and assets service.

 

The Interim Chief Finance Officer advised that he was pleased with the report and especially as it showed that the Council was moving in the right direction and that there were no qualifications in the audit.

 

The reasons for the delays in producing the audit were explained to the Committee and an assurance given that the auditors and the Council’s officers were working towards improving this process. The Committee noted that the current audit would not be submitted within the September deadline.

 

In response to questions, the Head of Finance and External Auditor advised:

 

·                         On how its properties were valued.

 

·                         That no matter what controls were in place there would always be a  risk that these could be overridden and one of the purposes of the external audit was to ensure that this did not take place.

 

·                         Debt management had been brought back in house to improve this service.

 

The Cabinet Lead assured the Committee that the Council had done well at collecting rents during the pandemic and offered to brief the members on this service.

 

RESOLVED that the External Audit Results Report 2019/20 and Audit Committee Briefing be noted subject to the date on page 117, paragraph 3.31 being amended to read “November 2020”.