Decision details

The Chairman welcomed Neil Hewitson from KPMG to the meeting, who advised the Committee that the statutory responsibility of the External Auditor was to issue an opinion on the Council’s financial statements along with a value for money conclusion.  An unqualified opinion had been issued for both relating to the 2017/18 financial year.

The Committee noted the significant audit risks identified for the Council which were the valuation of land and buildings, valuation of investment properties, and pension liabilities.  In addition, four other areas of audit focus had been highlighted as the consolidation of subsidiary statements, faster close, fraud risk from revenue recognition, and fraud risk from management override of controls.  These items had been flagged previously due to the size of the figures concerned and the level of judgement required, and were not new for 2017/18. 

It was considered very positive that overall no issues had been raised in the opinion, and the Committee thanked officers and KPMG for their work in enabling the accounts to be finalised in line with the faster close arrangements.  Additionally, the recommendations from the previous year’s audit were noted to have been implemented.

The Chairman additionally noted that next year a new External Auditor would be in place and thanked KPMG for their work over the past few years.

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL

That the Report to Those Charged with Governance (ISA 260) 2017/18 and the Management Representation letter be received.