Report of the Director of Finance and Commercial (S151 Officer)

The subject of the decision:

The Director of Finance (s151 Officer) submitted a report which presented the Statutory Auditor Results Report for the year ended 31 March 2020 and the Council’s Financial Report 2019/20 for approval.  The Management Representation Letter was not available for consideration at the meeting.

The Director of Finance reported that the Audit Results Report was still undergoing further work and the Letter of Representation was not yet finalised, both would be completed by the statutory deadline date of 30 November 2020.

Alternative options considered:

None.

The reason for the decision:

The National Audit Office’s Code of Audit Practice (The Code) for Local Government Bodies required a report to be issued from the External Auditor (Ernst & Young LLP) to those charged with governance, on the work carried out during the audit, to discharge Ernst & Young’s statutory responsibilities, together with any governance issues identified.

The decision:

That the Chairman of the Committee be given delegated authority to:-

(1)    accept the ‘Audit Results Report – IAS 260’ presented to the Audit, Governance and Standards Committee for the 2019/20 audit as prepared by Ernst & Young LLP attached at Annex A to the report;

(2)    approve the Management Representation Letter which is required to be signed by the Council’s Director of Finance, acting in the capacity of s151 Officer; and

(3)    approve the audited Statement of Accounts for 2019/20 at Annex C of the report.