Agenda item

The Head of Finance: Education and Financial Reporting provided the Audit Committee with the opportunity to consider the certified draft Statements of Account for the 2020/21 financial year in respect of the Council, Rhondda Cynon Taf Pension Fund, Central South Consortium Joint Education Service Joint Committee, and the Annual Return for Llwydcoed Crematorium Joint Committee.

The Head of Finance outlined the purpose of the report for Committee to consider the impact, if any, upon the statement of accounts and annual return of issues and audit reports brought before Committee during course of year. Members were also informed of the secondary purpose which is to update Committee on the continued impact of Covid-19 on proposed plans for the earlier production of statement of accounts.

The Head of Finance drew Members attention to sections 3 and 4 which outlined the timeline shown earlier during the presentation. Members were again pointed to the data showing that for financial year 2018/19 accounts were certified by 31^st May, achieving the target deadline 2  months earlier than required. Members were again advised that Covid-19 has impacted on the timeline for target dates in 2019/20 and 2020/21 and reminded that the notice has been published on website stating why the target date has not been met.

The Head of Finance drew Members attention to paragraph 5.1 of the report in respect of the role of Audit Committees in the approval process of a Council’s Statement of Accounts, in line with the Local Government Measure 2011, and also to the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy toolkit as set out in Appendix 5 of the report.

With the agreement of the Chair and Members, the Head of Finance invited the officer from Audit Wales to provide an update on the progress of the audit to date.

Audit Wales firstly thanked the Head of Finance and the wider team for co-operation over the last 18 months and the timeline they have been able to produce the accounts. He advised they are close to finalising the audit on CSC and so far there were no issues to report.

The Chair thanked both officers and commended the detail of work that had gone into the reports acknowledging the additional challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Audit Committee RESOLVED:

1.    To consider the Council’s certified draft Statement of Accounts for the financial year 2020/21 (Appendix 1)

2.    To consider the Rhondda Cynon Taf Pension Fund certified draft Statement of Accounts for the financial year 2020/21 (Appendix 2)

3.    To consider the Central South Consortium Joint Education Service Joint Committee certified draft Statement of Accounts for the financial year 2020/21 (Appendix 3)

4.    To consider the Llwydcoed Crematorium Joint Committee certified draft Annual Return for the financial year 2020/21 (Appendix 4)

5.    To consider the impact, if any, upon the Statements of Account and Annual Return of issues and audit reports brought before the Committee during the year; and

6.    To note the impact of COVID 19 on progress of the proposed plans for earlier production and audit of the Statements of Account and Annual Return in accordance with the requirements of the Accounts and Audit (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2018.