Agenda item

The Core Financial Statements for the financial year ended 31 March 2018 were presented to the Resources Committee in May.  The report confirmed that:-

·        the unaudited Statement of Accounts would be signed by the Treasurer to certify that it presented a true and fair view of the financial position of the Authority as at 31 March 2018;

·        this would be subject to review by the Authority’s external auditors, Grant Thornton;

·        that a further report would be presented to the Audit Committee in July, following completion of the external audit;

·        at that meeting the Chair of the Audit Committee would be asked to sign the final statement of accounts, as well as the Treasurer;

·        Following this a final audited set of accounts will be presented to the Resources Committee for information.

In light of this the Committee noted and endorsed the report and core financial statements, based on the various outturn reports presented on the same agenda.

Subsequent to that the full set of accounts were produced and signed by the Treasurer and submitted for audit to Grant Thornton.   The External Audit Findings Report was considered as now presented.

The main issues within the report were as follows:-

• Audit opinion - the auditor would give an unqualified opinion on the financial statement;
• Value for money – the auditors concluded that the Authority had proper arrangements in all significant respects to ensure it delivered value for money in its use of resources.

The auditors had identified one adjusted mis?statement, relating to the treatment of our share of North West Fire Control, as set out on page 13-15 of the Audit Findings Report.  The Statement of Accounts was updated to reflect the changes identified during the audit and a revised statement of accounts was approved by the Audit Committee in July, as considered by Members as now presented.

In response to a question raised by County Councillor O’Toole regarding potential changes to Manchester’s membership on the North West Fire Control (NWFC) Board of Directors the Chief Fire Officer confirmed that the change of governance in Manchester to a Mayoral governance approach had led to fewer Members being available to attend meetings therefore Manchester had wanted instead to nominate Officers to sit on the Board. 

It was noted that Manchester owned 52% of NWFC, Lancashire 25% with the remaining shared between Cheshire and Cumbria.  The potential for a change in membership and any associated risk would be reviewed shortly by the Board’s current representation with any resultant change requiring alteration to the Articles of Association.

In response to a question raised by County Councillor Wilkins, the Director of Corporate Services confirmed that building assets received a full valuation every 5 years with a desk top review undertaken every year.  The Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised that the last review of fire stations concluded that they were broadly in line with our requirements.  The stations were used jointly with the Police and Ambulance Services where possible and with other partners for community use.

In response to a question raised by County Councillor Hennessey regarding employee emoluments (detailed on page 66 of the agenda pack) and whether it was possible to show gender against these numbers the Director of People and Development advised that the annual workforce planning report did include this data which he would extract and provide to County Councillor Hennessey outside the meeting.

RESOLVED: - That the Committee noted and endorsed the revised Statement of Accounts.