Agenda and minutes
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Venue: Council Chamber, Civic Centre, Windmill Street, Gravesend DA12 1AU. View directions
Contact: Committee Section
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Apologies for absence Minutes: An apology for absence was received from Cllr Dakota Dibben (Cllr Helen Ashenden substituted) and Cllr Lee Croxton.
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To sign the minutes of the previous meeting. PDF 253 KB Minutes: The minutes of the meeting on Wednesday, 09 November 2023 were signed by the Chair.
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To declare any interests members may have in the items contained on this agenda. When declaring an interest a member must state what their interest is. Minutes: No declarations of interest.
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Updated Audit Findings Report for Gravesham Borough Council - Year end 31 March 2020 PDF 141 KB Additional documents: Minutes: The committee was presented with an Audit Findings Report at the previous Finance & Audit Committee on 08 November, however at that stage the external audit process was in progress. An updated report that included an action plan with management responses and the draft audit opinion had now been provided for Members and could be found at Appendix One. The report gave Members a further update on the findings of the council’s External Auditor, Grant Thornton UK LLP, from the audit of the council’s financial statements and arrangements for securing Value for Money for the year ended 31 March 2020.
The External Auditor, Grant Thornton advised that there were two areas that were the basis for the qualified opinion:
The External Auditor, Grant Thornton explained that an independent panel had reviewed the reasons for the qualified audit and agreed that it was appropriate as outlined in the report. The final fee position had also been agreed with the Council and was reflected in the report.
The External Auditor, Grant Thornton confirmed that the audit was essentially complete; it was hoped the 2019/20 accounts would be fully signed off by mid-January 2024.
The Chair thanked officers and the external auditors for their hard work in completing the audit of 2019/20 accounts.
The Chair queried several discrepancies in the report with regards to compliancy with the CIPFA Code and asked for clarification on whether the Council had been compliant with the CIPFA Code, in particular in relation to the HRA Revaluation point.
The External Auditor, Grant Thornton explained that the CIPFA Code required granular revaluation and Grant Thornton had requested that the Council account for a full restatement of the Revaluation Reserve in line with the CIPFA Code, but the request was rejected due to lack of resources. The CIES, MIRS, Cashflow Statement, the PPE note, Unusable Reserves note, and other related notes would be impacted . However, there would be no impact to Balance Sheet or the HRA overall.
The Chair reconfirmed that Members had endorsed the position taken by senior management at the Council.
The Director (Corporate Services) reconfirmed that the Council took the view that the money paid by Aviva, on behalf of the Council to Reef should not be recognised as part of the liability in the accounts, because the payments made were outside ... view the full minutes text for item 41. |
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Statement of Accounts 2019/20 & Letter of Representation 2019/20 PDF 148 KB Additional documents:
Minutes: The Committee were asked to consider the Statement of Accounts for 2019/20 and give their approval for the Chair of the Finance and Audit Committee to sign the audited Statement of Accounts for 2019/20 and the Letter of Representation, on completion of the audit by Grant Thorton.
The Principal Accountant (General Fund) advised that a training video link had been circulated to Members with the agenda pack and prior to the meeting which outlined key information regarding the Statement of Accounts for 2019/20. As at the time of writing this report, the External Auditor anticipated providing a modified opinion in respect of the financial statements of the Council for the year 2019/20 which was mainly due to the accounting for HRA valuations and The St George’s Shopping Centre Transaction.
The Principal Accountant (General Fund) advised that:
In response to a question, the Principal Accountant (General Fund) explained that the reason for the large increase in the Chief Executive directorate on the comprehensive income & expenditure statement from 2018/29 to 2019/20 was likely due to the Council reorganising itself internally. Some services from another directorate would have been moved over to the Chief Executive directorate resulting in the increased figures; at that time it was likely Communications and Corporate Change.
In response to a question from the Chair the External Auditor, Grant Thornton advised that he was confident that the audit of 2019/20 accounts would be completed by mid-January 2024.
The Chair asked that the External Auditor, Grant Thornton to run Members through the process for the auditing of the 2020/21 accounts.
The External Auditor, Grant Thornton explained that:
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Addendum to AGS 2019/20 PDF 283 KB Additional documents: Minutes: The Committees approval was sought for a proposed addendum to the council’s Annual Governance Statement for the 2019-20 financial year.
The Assistant Director (Corporate Services) highlighted that following the adoption of the AGS for 2019-20, the report presented an addendum specially designed to respond to the findings of Grant Thornton’s Value for Money Report 2019-20, presented to the Finance and Audit Committee on 8 November 2023.
The Chair praised the inclusion of the standardised business case format and endorsed the training given during the Member Induction; the Chair implored Members to attend all Finance training available to them.
Resolved that Members approved and supported the recommendations and associated senior management response prepared as an addendum to the Annual Governance Statement for the 2019-20 financial year.
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