Agenda item
2019/20 Pension Fund Audit Plan
- Meeting of Pensions Committee, Thursday, 18th June, 2020 6.00 p.m. (Item 5.1)
- View the background to item 5.1
Minutes:
Ms Miriam Adams, Interim Pensions and Investments Manager introduced the report and stated the report detailed the external auditors Deloitte’s, audit plan for the auditing of the Pension Fund for 2019/20.
Mr Johnathan Gooding, a partner from Deloitte was joined by his colleagues Mr David McConnell and Mr James Ross, who were overseeing the audit plans for 2018/19 and 2019/20 respectively. Mr Gooding explained both audit plans were running concurrently due to the delay experienced in producing the financial accounts for 2018/19.
Mr Gooding explained the audit plan took into consideration the materiality and significant risk to the auditing of the Pension fund and the impact COVID-19 would have on the audit. Mr Gooding said operational difficulties had been overcome by remote working practices but accounting implications, such as the ability to value assets were an issue.
Mr James Ross, then addressed the Committee and said the materiality had been calculated at 1% of the net assets. Mr Ross said the materiality was subject to review once the draft financial reports were available with a complete net asset figure. Hence the plan was subject to change. Mr Ross continued stating the management override of control is a significant risk and is a presumed risk which must be considered in all audit plans. Mr Ross said the details of how the audit plan would mitigate against this were set out on page 11 (page 17 of the supplement agenda) of the report. Mr Ross said Covid-19 had already had an impact on the investment portfolio of the Pension Fund due to the volatility in the market. In particular, the pandemic had made the valuation of property investing more challenging.
Mr Ross referred Members to the draft timetable on page 6 of the report and said this was reliant on information provided by Officers in the Council. Mr Kevin Bartle, Interim Divisional Director for Finance, Procurement and Audit added every effort would be made to meet the target set however the team was facing pressures, notwithstanding the pandemic, which a later report to the committee would be examining in relation to the Pension Administration and remediation plan.
In response to questions from Members the following was noted:
· In response to if a systems audit be undertaken given the issues experienced in relation to the administration of the Pensions Fund, Mr Bartle said there were no plans to do so, but this could be added to the internal audit, the Council’s Audit team would be undertaking imminently.
· Mr Gooding clarified the external audit plan would be focussing on the financial statement of accounts, in relation to the pension fund and would not be commenting on the wider issues identified by the Pensions Board. He said under the Value for money conclusion, weakness identified in process could be highlighted there.
· Mr Bartle gave further reassurances the issues highlighted by the Pensions Board would be addressed by the Internal Audit that had been commissioned.
The Pension Committee AGREED to
NOTE the Audit planning report from Deloitte that related to the Tower Hamlets Pensions Accounts as set out in appendix A.
Supporting documents:
- 201920 Pension Fund Audit Plan, item 5.1 PDF 235 KB
- 201920 Pension Funnd Draft Audit Plan, item 5.1 PDF 983 KB