Havant Borough Council Governance, Audit and Finance Board (20/06/2018 - 01/02/2021) Meeting

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no declarations of interests relating to matters on the agenda.

The Committee considered the Internal Audit Plan 2020-2021, as presented by Antony Harvey of the Southern Internal Audit Partnership.

The Annual Report for 2019-20 provided the Chief Internal Auditor’s opinion on the adequacy and effectiveness the Council’s framework of risk management, control and governance processes and summarised audit work from which that opinion is derived for the year ending 31 March 2020.

The Governance, Audit and Finance Board’s attention was drawn to the following points:

a            internal audit was compliant with the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards during 2019-20;

b            the Council’s framework of governance, risk management and management control is considered to be ‘Adequate’ and audit testing has demonstrated controls to be working in practice; and

c            where internal audit work identified areas where management controls could be improved or where systems and laid down procedures were not fully followed, appropriate corrective actions and a timescale for improvement were agreed with the responsible managers.

RESOLVED that the Internal Audit Plan 2020-21 as submitted be approved.

The Committee considered a report presented by Antony Harvey of the Southern Internal Audit Partnership, who joined the meeting for the debate on this item and answered members’ questions in connection with the report.

The report provided the Committee with the Chief Internal Auditor’s opinion on the overall adequacy and effectiveness of the Council’s framework of governance, risk management and control for the year ending 31 March 2020.

RESOLVED that the Annual Internal Audit Report and Opinion for 2019/20 from the Southern Internal Audit Partnership be approved.

The Board considered the Internal Audit Charter 202-21, as presented by Antony Harvey of the Southern Internal Audit Partnership.

The Internal Audit Charter formally defined the purpose, authority and responsibilities for internal audit activity.

RESOLVED that the Internal Audit Charter 2020-21 be approved.

The Committee considered the External Audit Results Report for 2018/19 presented by Ernst and Young LLP. Mr Suter and Mr Jones of Ernst and Young LLP joined the meeting for the debate on this item and answered members’ questions in connection with the report.

The Audit Results Report summarised the findings from the 2018/19 audit.

RESOLVED that the External Audit Results Report 2018/19 be noted.

The Board received the Statement of Accounts and Letter of Representation for 2018/19.

The Statement of Accounts detailed the Council’s financial position against budgets in 2018/19, including core financial statements and supporting information, while also outlining arrangements for 2018/19 onwards. The Letter of Representation set out the Council’s response to the external auditors and explanation of the unadjusted audit difference.

RESOLVED that;

a            the Statement of Accounts for 2018/19 be approved and the Chairman be authorised to certify the approval by signing the relevant page of the accounts and the s151 Officer be authorised to certify the approval of the Accounts by signing the relevant pages of the Accounts; and

b            subject to the addition of the schedule set out on pages 71 and 72 of the Agenda, the Letter of Representation be approved and the Chairman of the Board and the s151 Officer be authorised to sign the letter.

The Board received a report outlining the findings and common themes of the limited assurance or no assurance audits carried out in 2019/20 and the action that could be taken to resolve these audits.

RESOLVED that:

a            the findings and common themes of the limited assurance audits carried out in 201920, as summarised in the submitted report be noted; and

b            the new procedure as recommended at option 2 of paragraph 6.2 of the submitted report for resolving audit reports with limited or no assurance be noted. 

The Board considered a report setting out the report the Accounting Policies that would be used in the preparation of the 2019/20 Statement of Accounts and summarised the changes from 2018/19 introduced as a result of the amendments to the Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting 2019/20 (the Code) or as part of the Council’s annual review process.

The report also explained the requirement to include notes on the critical judgements used in the production of the Statement of Accounts which have been presented alongside the Accounting Policies in line with best practice.

RESOLVED that

a            the proposed Accounting Policies as set out in the submitted report be adopted in completing the 2019/20 Statement of Accounts; and

b            the critical judgements set oiut in the submitted report be noted

The Board considered the draft of the Annual Governance Statement 2019-20.

RESOLVED that the draft copy of the Annual Governance Statement 2019-20 as set out in Appendix A of the submitted report be noted.