Issue - meetings

REPORT OF THE SERVICE DIRECTOR – RESOURCES

To consider the Statement of Accounts 2019/20.

RESOLVED:

(1)       That the draft 2019/20 Annual Statement of Accounts, as set out in Appendix A, be approved based on the draft Audit Results report;

(2)       That subject to the final Audit Results report not requiring any substantial changes, the final approval of the 2019/20 Annual Statement of Accounts be delegated to the Chair of the Committee. This will include confirming that the Chair of the Committee can sign the Statement of Accounts to confirm that they have been approved by the Committee.

REASON FOR DECISIONS: To ensure that the Council abides by the Audit and Account Regulations 2015, which require the approval and publication of audited Statement of Accounts.

Audio Recording – 37 Minutes 55 Seconds

The Statement of Accounts was added under urgency provisions. The reason for urgency was that the Statement of Accounts must be approved by 30 November 2020, in line with the Accounts and Audit (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020. The next scheduled Finance, Audit and Risk Committee is due to take place after this deadline on 3 December 2020.

The Service Director – Resources presented the report entitled Statement of Accounts and drew Members’ attention to Recommendation 2.2. He advised that there may be some minor changes to the accounts. However, if there were any major changes to be made, the report would be brought back before Members of the Committee.

The Service Director – Resources reaffirmed that the accounts required approval by 30 November 2020. However, the next Finance, Audit and Risk Committee was not scheduled until 3 December 2020, therefore illustrating the urgency.

There was clarification sought from Members regarding Recommendation 2.2 which the Service Director – Resources provided guidance on.

RESOLVED:

(1)       That the draft 2019/20 Annual Statement of Accounts, as set out in Appendix A, be approved based on the draft Audit Results report;

(2)       That subject to the final Audit Results report not requiring any substantial changes, the final approval of the 2019/20 Annual Statement of Accounts be delegated to the Chair of the Committee. This will include confirming that the Chair of the Committee can sign the Statement of Accounts to confirm that they have been approved by the Committee.

REASON FOR DECISIONS: To ensure that the Council abides by the Audit and Account Regulations 2015, which require the approval and publication of audited Statement of Accounts.