The Chairman thanked everyone for attending the re-convened meeting.

RESOLVED:

to re-convene the meeting of the Audit Committee.

To approve Central Bedfordshire Council’s Statement of Accounts, item deferred from 28 June 2010.

(Statement of Accounts to follow).

The Assistant Director of Finance updated the Committee on progress made on the statement of accounts; due to unforeseen circumstances the statement of accounts was still incomplete. The Assistant Director of Finance  stated that the Collection Fund and Housing Revenue Account sections of the accounts were complete and would be available for the Audit Commission to start work on from 1 July 2010. The complete accounts would be made available for audit in a week.

Members noted that sections 6 (Statement of Total Recognised Gains and Losses) and section 7 (the Balance Sheet) were not yet reconciled. However, on the information available, particularly the Statement of Movement on the General Fund Balance, the Assistant Director of Finance was confident that the bottom line would not change and that any alterations made over the next week would be moving items to different lines and would not impact on the total worth of the organisation.

The Committee discussed the Statement of Accounts and highlighted key areas that they felt needed further attention.

• Explanatory Forward section 4 – Capital Outturn Position: £37,082 had been spent on ‘other works’ more detail on these works would be appreciated;
• Statement of Accounting Policies section 23 – Pooled Budgets: clarification on whether Luton was part of the pooled budget was needed;
• Notes to the Income and Expenditure Accounts section 10 Employee Remuneration: it should be clarified that the remuneration column includes pension expenses

It was clarified that inherited liabilities relating to the Ridgemont bypass had been included in the Capital Outturn (Explanatory Forward section 4). Members also noted that the actuarial costs of early retirements as part of the Local Government Reorganisation were being written off against the General Fund balances (Statement of Accounting Policies section 10 (d)).

The Pension Reserve had grown significantly over the year; the Assistant Director of Finance advised that this was sensitive to markets and discount rates and offered to circulate a briefing note to members of the committee explaining why the reserve had grown over the last year. The Assistant Director of Finance also agreed to specify what exactly was referred to as Council Dwellings Kitchens and Bathrooms (Notes to balance sheet section 6) as members understood that this would not include council houses.

Members discussed the delay in finalising the statement of accounts, it was noted that this was impacting on other areas of work and that the Portfolio Holder for People, Governance and Finance had asked for a review of the situation and a recovery plan to be put in place. It was fully expected that next year the statement of accounts would be ready to be circulated with the Audit Committee agenda.

Members requested that a review of the preparation of the Statement of Accounts be brought to them as soon as possible. The Chairman agreed to discuss with the Assistant Director of Finance whether this review should be a formal meeting or an informal review session.

Members extended their thanks to Head of Corporate Finance for coming  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.