Issue - meetings

Report of the Executive Director of Corporate Resources and Customer Services

The Committee considered the report of the Executive Director of Corporate Resources and Customer Services on the final audited Statement of Accounts 2019/20, including the Annual Governance Statement for consideration and approval.  In addition, the proposed ‘Letter of Representation’ letter from Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council to the External Auditors - Ernst & Young LLP (EY), which was attached for approval.

The report indicated that there had been a delay in completing the audit for 2019/20, the deadline for publication having been 30 November 2020. However, the regulations allowed for a delay in publication where the audit had not yet been completed.  The Audit was now complete and was presented to the Audit and Governance Committee, which had delegated authority to approve the Statement of Accounts for 2019/2020.

The Statement of Accounts 2019/20 provided information about the Authority’s finances in respect of the cost of the Authority’s services and what the Authority’s assets and liabilities were at the end of the year.

The report provided details of the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement; the Movement in Reserves Statement, the Balance Sheet; Cash Flow Statement; Notes to the Financial Statements – Expenditure and Funding Analysis; Other Notes to the Financial Statements; the Collection Fund; Group Accounts; the Annual Governance Statement and the Report of the Independent External Auditors (Ernst and Young (EY) LLP).

The EY audit had focused on the following areas with no significant issues having been found:

·       Risk of fraud in revenue and expenditure recognition;

·       Misstatements due to fraud or error (management override of controls);

·       Risk of error in valuation of pension fund assets and liabilities in the Local Government Pension Scheme; and,

·       Valuation of land and buildings.

The Executive Director of Corporate Resources and Customer Services, the Service Manager Finance; the Corporate Finance Manager and a representative from Ernst and Young, presented the reports and answered a range of questions from the Committee on each of the key areas within the statement of accounts.

RESOLVED: That