Agenda item

6.1

Hayley Clark (Ernst and Young) informed Committee that the report had been submitted to the Audit and Standards Committee in July, but that all audit procedures were now complete and assurances had been received from the pensions authority.  The accounts had been signed off by the Chair of Audit Committee.

6.2

Councillor Josie Paszek asked questions regarding the housing revaluation, financial statement corrections and the level of reserves.  Hayley Clark explained that the housing revaluation had had no impact on the budget as it was contained within an unuseable reserve.  The uncorrected differences were not felt to be material and were part of the accounting process.  They had been appended to the letter of representation.  The auditors had met with the Council regarding the reserves which had dropped in 2018/19 and were happy with the progress made to increase the reserves so far in 2019/20.

6.3

The Assistant Director of Finance noted that there had been a small overspend in 2018/19 which had caused the reserves to drop.  A process was in place to look at how to top up the reserves and the national Budget Settlement was better this time, which had decreased the pressure on the Council to reduce its reserves below prudent levels.

6.4

Councillor Mohammed Mahroof asked how sporting facilities were recorded and Hayley Clark responded that sporting facilities were recorded using Depreciated Revenue Costs which was the approved accounting process.