Issue - meetings
Report to Those Charged with Governance - ISA260 2013/14
Meeting: 23/09/2015 - Audit Committee (Item 3)
3 Report to Those Charged with Governance - ISA260 2013/14 PDF 1 MB
Report to follow.
Minutes:
At the Chair’s invitation, Andrew Sayers, Engagement Partner, KPMG, presented the report which related to the annual external auditor’s report for the period 2013/14. The Committee was informed:
- That, as external auditors, KPMG
were responsible for the audit of:
- Financial arrangements
- Ensuring that the Council secured value for money(VFM)
- The exercise of any other audit powers as considered necessary and appropriate.
- That the completion of the annual audit had been deferred pending the conclusion of the investigation by PWC undertaken under the instructions of the Secretary of State. Following the final report being issued, we were able to undertake further enquiries arising from the report’s findings and additional information received from other parties. Once these were completed we were able to complete our work and issue our audit opinion.
- The Audit Opinion on the financial statements is unqualified
- That KPMG had viewed the draft governance statement and this was considered to be consistent with our knowledge.
- That in relation to VFM, the various matters highlighted by PWC and additional information received from other parties had been examined and based on this assessment, and an adverse conclusion on the adequacy of the Council’s arrangements to deliver value for money would be issued.
- That a Section 11 recommendation would be made recommending that the Council’s governance arrangements should be reviewed.
- Normally, such a recommendation would need to be considered by the Council within a month. However, in view of the impending arrival of the new Chief Executive, KPMG were prepared to consider extending this normal deadline requirement..
· That KPMG would not presently exercise its other statutory auditor powers. In terms of a public interest report there had been significant publicity around the matters raised through the PWC investigation. In respect of potential items of account contrary to law KPMG’s view is not to seek a declaration from the court given the amounts involved are not material and the relatively small benefit to be obtained from further action and the significant cost to the local taxpayers of taking court action.
- Once all final steps have been completed, the audit opinion will be issued. This was expected to be within the next two to three weeks.
In response to Members’ questions the following information was provided:
- Concerning reasons why issues identified through PWC investigations which were of long-standing had not been made known in previous ISA260 reports, the Committee was informed that since KPMG had become the Council's external auditors it had identified some such issues and commented on them in previous ISA260 reports. However the cumulative effects of the issues identified had not been evident at the time of earlier reporting.
- The Section 11 recommendations would have no impact on the opinion being issued on the accounts. The publication of a Section 11 recommendation was a separate and compulsory process but it did not prevent the signing of the accounts. . Mr Sayers anticipated that the 2013/14 accounts would be finalised in the near future.
- Concerning the status of ISA260 report relating ... view the full minutes text for item 3