Issue - meetings

The Corporate Finance Team Leader introduced the Unaudited Statement of Accounts for 2019/20 for scrutiny. She stated that, following the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015, the Council’s Statement of Accounts, subject to audit, must be certified by the Chief Finance Officer and published before the 31 May. Following completion of the external audit the Council must formally approve the accounts before 31 July. However, due to the global pandemic, these deadlines had been extended. The unaudited accounts must therefore be published on, or before 31 August 2020. Audited accounts must be published by 30 November 2020. She stated that the external audit was ongoing. Members were advised of potential material uncertainty regarding the pension fund, as detailed in section 4.1 of the report, and it was explained that this was not of immediate concern but could have an impact. It was also highlighted that the scale fee for 2020/21 remained unchanged.

The Chairman thanked the Corporate Finance Team Leader for a clear report and enquired about a £200k grant that had been agreed previously but not yet taken up. It was explained those funds were part of the capital programme and were still available as originally agreed.

There were discussions regarding the pension fund and the timescales involved with becoming a fully funded fund. Members heard that there was an actuarial review conducted every three years and that following the last review in 2019/20, there had been a 77% of being fully funded by 2039. This would continue to be reviewed every three years.

A Member of the Committee enquired about the impact of Covid 19 and the measures taken by the Council in terms of covering rental income or the risk of significantly devalued properties. It was explained that within the earmarked reserves were valuation volatility reserves which were maintained to cover any drop in value of a property. With regards to rental incomes, there was provision within the accounts for recovering lost monies over a longer term or extending rent payments to ensure affordability for tenants during these times.

Following an enquiry regarding the oil wells owned by the Council, it was agreed that the full asset register would be shared.

With no further discussion it was

            RESOLVED that:

a)    Members had the opportunity to review the Unaudited Statement of Accounts and any comments would be referred to the Section 151 Officer for subsequent discussion with the Council’s External Auditors, Mazars; and

b)    Members accepted the uncertainty around the Pension Fund

Valuations which may result in amendments to the Statement of Accounts; and

c)    the scale fee for the External Audit of the Statement of Accounts for 2020/21 be noted.