Issue - meetings

The attached report summarises the key findings

arising from the work of the Council’s external auditor

for the year ending 31 March 2020. The key points to note are that Grant Thornton:

·       provided an unqualified opinion on the Council’s financial statements;

·       included an emphasis of matter in their report in respect of the uncertainty over valuations of the Council's land and buildings and investment properties and the property assets of its pension fund given the Coronavirus pandemic. This does not affect their opinion that the statements give a true and fair view of the Council's financial position and its income and expenditure for the year; and

were satisfied that, except for the matter identified in respect of the Ofsted inspection of children’s services, the Council had proper arrangements for securing economy, efficiency and effectiveness in its use of resources (qualified 'except for' conclusion).

The Head of Audit and Management Assurance presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'G' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The report summarised the key findings arising from the work of the Council’s external auditor, Grant Thornton, for the year ending 31 March 2020. The key points to note were that Grant Thornton provided an unqualified opinion on the Council’s financial statements and were satisfied that, except for the matter identified in respect of the Ofsted inspection of children’s services, the Council had proper arrangements for securing economy, efficiency and effectiveness in its use of resources (qualified 'except for' conclusion).

It was reported that the report from the external auditors included an emphasis on the uncertainty over valuations of the Council's land and buildings and investment properties and the property assets of its pension fund given the Coronavirus pandemic. This however did not affect their opinion that the statements gave a true and fair view of the Council's financial position and its income and expenditure for the year.

It was explained that the Annual Audit Letter, which was also included in the report to the Committee, represented  the final formal notification of Grant Thornton’s  work for the year ended 31 March 2020 and confirmed detailed findings from their audit work as previously reported to the Audit and Governance Committee on 11 March 2021.

In response to questions, Members were reminded that an Action Plan submitted to the previous meeting of the Committee set out a process for addressing the subject of property valuation in future audits.

The lead Auditor from Grant Thornton, Paul Dossett informed the Committee that this would be the last audit he would be conducting at BCP Council and introduced his successor Peter Barber. Sam Harding would retain her involvement providing essential continuity in the future.

The Chairman of the Committee paid tribute to the professional and objective work of Paul Dossett in conducting audits both at BCP Council and within the legacy Councils and emphasised the importance of continuity going forward. Paul Dossett in response thanked Members and Officers for their very courteous, polite and non-adversarial approach to the audit process. 

RESOLVED that Audit & Governance Committee notes the audit opinion and findings of the Council’sexternal auditor following their audit of the Council’sstatement of accounts 2019/20.

Voting: Unanimous