AUDIT
COMMITTEE
RECORD OF MEETING
HELD ON 14th FEBRUARY 2008
Present:
Councillor G Fenton, Chair;
Councillors H Curran, C Goff, S Hogben, A C
Johnson.
Officers in attendance:
A
Devin Principal
Auditor
P
Goodwin
Assistant Director, Accountancy and Audit
J
Smith Democratic
Services Officer
Also in attendance:
Councillor J Hatfield
16. DECLARATION OF
INTERESTS
No Member declared any personal or prejudicial
interest in respect of any item of business on the agenda.
17. RECORD OF
MEETING
AGREED: That the record of the meeting
held on 18th September 2007 be approved as
correct.
18. ANNUAL AUDIT
AND INSPECTION LETTER 2006/2007
The Annual Audit and Inspection
Letter 2006/2007 was not available for the meeting and therefore
the item was deferred for consideration at a future meeting.
19. USE OF
RESOURCES – AUDITOR JUDGEMENTS 2007
The Committee considered the report
submitted which contained details of the Use of Resources Auditor
Judgements 2007 produced by Baker Tilly, the Council’s external
Auditors.
The Use of Resources Judgements assessed
how well Councils managed and used their financial
resources. The assessment was undertaken yearly for each
council and was completed by the External Auditors under their Code
of Audit Practice. The report set out the External Auditor’s
key findings in relation to each theme and key areas for
improvement.
The reported judgements show year on year
consistency in respect of Financial Reporting, Financial
Management, Financial Standing and Value for Money, despite the
raising of the standard of assessment. However there had
however been a fall from Level 3 to Level 2 in the strand of
Internal Control relating to probity and propriety; additionally,
the management of business risks was operating at minimum
requirements only.
RESOLVED:
That Baker Tilly’s report on Use of
Resources – Auditor Judgements 2007 be noted.
20.
NEW CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
FRAMEWORK
The report informed Members of the work
completed nationally by a working group, led by CIPFA and SOLACE,
to review and update the Corporate Governance criteria against
which all Local Government bodies were required to comply. The
criteria were set out within a Corporate Governance Framework,
detailed in the report and the new framework would form the basis
for the development of the Council’s Local Code of Corporate
Governance which was last reviewed in July 2004.
The Principal Auditor introduced the report
and provided a summary of its content. He explained that the
new Framework comprised of six principles that should underpin the
governance of the Council. An Officer group with the appropriate
knowledge and levels of seniority was to be appointed to drive the
process forward in respect of the production of an Annual
Governance Statement.
A revised Local Code of Corporate
Governance would provide a structure to the process, and would be
submitted to Board on 6th March for
approval. Members discussed the approval process and
the need to raise awareness to all Members of the Council.
It was explained that authorities should
undertake regular, at least annual, reviews of their governance
arrangements to ensure continuing compliance with best practice as
set out in the Framework. The review would be reported to the Audit
Committee and the Committee would be asked to approve the annual
Governance Statement.
The Committee discussed the role of the
Audit Committee in respect of corporate governance during the
transitional period prior to the commencement of the new
authorities. The Assistant Director, Accountancy and Audit
explained that a meeting between external audit and East Cheshire
colleagues was being held on 26th February which should
provide a briefing/awareness session on Corporate Governance.
Members of the Committee supported a proposal for the Chairman to
attend this meeting if possible.
RESOLVED:
(A) That
a recommendation be made to the Board as follows:
That the
Board refer the report to full Council for formal approval
to raise Members’ awareness of the new Corporate
Governance Framework;
(B)
That the contents of the new Corporate
Governance Framework and the requirements contained therein be
noted;
(C)
That the revised Local Code of Corporate
Governance, prepared in accordance with the new Framework, be
submitted to a future Audit Committee meeting; and
(D) That
the Assistant Director, Accountancy and Audit liaise with the
External Auditors to request that the Chairman be invited to the
Cheshire East Districts’ Auditors and Finance Managers meeting on
26th February 2008 to explore the role and functions of
the Audit Committee in the Cheshire Unitary proposals
process.
21.
REVIEW OF RISK MANAGEMENT
The Audit Committee Terms of Reference
included the requirement to ‘monitor the effective development and
operation of Risk Management in the Council’. This was a key
development in the further evolution of Risk Management.
Accordingly, a review had been undertaken
by Internal Audit which had identified the present
position, and the proposals for action that would ensure that the
Council updated its processes in line with new developments.
The report submitted recorded the main features of the
review.
RESOLVED:
(A)
That the contents of the draft Internal Audit Report on
Risk Management be noted; and
(B)
That the progress on actions agreed be placed before future
Audit Committee meetings to enable effective member monitoring of
the risk management process.
22. INTERNAL
AUDIT INTERIM REPORT 2007-08
The Committee considered the report of the
Principal Auditor which provided an interim report on audit
activity. The report provided a commentary on the results of
the main areas of audit activity for the period 1st
September to 31st December 2007.
RESOLVED:
That the Internal Audit Interim
Report be received.
23. DATE OF NEXT
MEETING
April/May
2008
…………………………
Chair