Agenda item

Matt Sanham introduced this report and made the following points:

·  Councillors were informed that Grant Thornton were the ones tasked with confirming the Council’s financial statements were both true and fair;

·  Subject to the completion of some tasks by the Council, it is anticipated that GT will approve the compliancy with relevant financial frameworks;

·  Officers would usually present a letter of representation for the Chair of the committee to sign off as well as a set of accounts, however due to timeliness, officers are expecting to bring these items to a future meeting.

Matt Dean, Grant Thornton UK LLP, continued the report:

·  A plan has been agreed with the Head of Finance and the Section 151 Officer, regarding getting the timeframes of the accounts up to date, including 2022-23, 2023-24, etc.;

·  GT found no changes to the reported financial position in the draft accounts, however some recommendations have been put forward regarding a small number of adjustments;

·  A previous report was presented to the Committee on 29 November 2023, which covered the period between April 2020 to March 2023, which laid out conclusions. Some objections regarding the period of 2021-22 were received but have now been closed;

·  Some journals were incorrectly posted by an interim chief accountant that were subsequently reversed out and posted again meaning more work was required raising a recommendation on those, however no inappropriate activity was found;

·  Work being carried out that includes buildings and investment properties are being seen as a positive through GT, however there were some concerns over the valuation of low value investment properties;

·  In regards to the pension fund liability, a request was made or an up to date report to ensure accuracy, which has been updated and reflected in the revised accounts;

·  With the minimum revenue position, GT are comfortable with the Council’s approach;

·  GT did highlight an error regarding ICT and a starter form of an elected member, but it was picked up the following month.

Committee discussion raised the following points:

·  Councillors asked about an objection that was raised regarding Berths 4 and 5 in the report. Officers informed Councillors that this objection was closed;

·  In regards to the topic of the Commercial Property Valuation, conducted in March 2022, a value was produced of £24.7 million. Officers informed Councillors that this included the value of £7.2 million, however the cost benefit analysis of looking at every asset would not be worth paying where the asset is of low value. GT set a sensitivity analysis based on the knowledge of the market and the value was around £700,000, which GT is comfortable with and it was a risk that the Council were okay with;

·  Councillors were reminded that there issues regarding getting the accounts completed which was why this report came to the Committee at this time, with other factors such as new government measures being put in that place that has delayed this report. However, officers were confident that in 12 months’ time, the Council will be in a position to work towards looking at the accounts for 2024-25;

·  In regards to some of the Council’s commercial property, some plots of land were too insignificant, to impact the Council’s values on the accounts or to include in the findings of the report and would be a waste of tax payer’s money;

·  Officers were happy to inform the Councillors that the Council’s Head of Estates was conducting a thorough rent review of the entire portfolio of estates that the Council own, to ensure that rent values are correct;

·  Officers clarified that a lot of the low value investments that the Council owned, would not be taken into account due to them not providing a deliverable service, however a lot of the properties are kept by TDC in projections of the value of them going up

Councillor Britcher proposed, Councillor Towning seconded and Councillors agreed:

That the Committee considered the audit findings of the 2021-22 statement of accounts and noted the report.