Issue - meetings

The Committee were presented with the Unaudited Statement of Accounts for Scrutiny.  The accounts had been approved for issue by the S151 Chief Finance Officer on 1 July 2021 to the auditor, Mazars, which was prior to the statutory deadline of 31 July 2021.

The Committee was responsible for the approval of the Statement of Accounts and any material amendments of the accounts recommended by the external auditors.  The Audited Statement of Accounts would therefore be presented to the Committee again on 28 September 2021 after the audit process.

Members of the Governance and Audit Committee would be provided with specific training on the Statement of Accounts to enable them to meet the requirements.

Taking information from the main Statements within the Accounts, i.e. the Income and Expenditure Account, the Movement in Reserves and the Balance Sheet, the financial performance indicators provided a view of the Council’s financial stability and health. 

The Council remained in a healthy position, with good levels of Usable Reserves, however the impact of the increase in the Pension Liability reflected an inability for the Authority to meet its liabilities.  The pension fund was not an immediate concern, and the increased liability, was mainly due to the financial assumptions of the value of liabilities in the current economic climate. 

The main elements of the Statement were detailed in Section 3 of the report and were highlighted to the Committee.

Debate ensued and reference the balance sheets, whilst acknowledging the level of reserves the Council still held, but recognising the fluctuating situation, particularly in respect of liabilities such as pension, assurance was sought that the Council had enough in reserves for future years .

In responding, Officers advised that the Council had increased its reserve from previous years. However the value of the assets was now less than that of liabilities the reasons for this was outlined to the Committee in detail. Officers were satisfied this gave the Council some level of resilience, but also the opportunity to continue to invest. The MTFP identified a balanced budget, but recognised a potential £1,000,000 shortfall within five years. Officers again provided assurance and were confident that this matter would be addressed in the ensuing years.  A number of national issues were yet to be determined including business rate retention policy and the review of fairer funding across all local authorities, both of which had the potential to impact the council's finances. All assumptions within the plan had been made with the level of prudence providing further assurance.

In responding to further questions, the Section 151 officer indicated the two greatest areas of concern and unknowns with potentially significant implications were the outcome of the business rates retention and the fairer funding for local authorities. It was also unclear how long government support would be provided to support the Covid recovery. Treasury management practices of the council also allowed fluidity, allowing the council to respond if necessary.

Members questioned the scenario, should the assumptions within the report not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18