Agenda item

Grant Thornton to present the Committee with

i.          the Certification report for 2015/16; and

ii.         the External Audit Plan for 2016/17, as attached.

The Committee was presented with the latest draft version of the Grant Thornton External Audit Plan for the Council for 2016/17 which gave an overview of the planned scope and timing of the audit.

Iain Murray drew the Committee’s attention to the business context for the audit plan (developments, key challenges and financial reporting changes); materiality thresholds, which remained the same as for 2015/16; significant risks, as defined by professional standards; other financial risks (key areas of outgoings, valuation of fixed assets and pension liability, changes to the presentation of the accounts); Value for Money considerations; and the independence check.

In completing his summary of the Plan, Iain Murray advised the Committee that a family member of a Waverley councillor was employed by Grant Thornton; however, that employee had not, and would not, work on the Waverley Audit, and had no access to the Waverly audit files.

Cllr Hyman expressed a concern that the risk identified in relation to development and regeneration and the response, on pages 4 and 14 of the External Audit Plan, relied on information provided by the Council, and he felt that there were additional issues that Grant Thornton should be aware of including the validity of the planning consent for the Brightwells development.

Iain Murray responded that the role of the External Auditors was to assess how the Council identified and managed risks in relation to policy decisions, and they were not qualified to assess if the planning consent was valid.

The Chairman pointed out that Cllr Hyman’s views were different to those of the Council, and suggested that he could forward a letter to the External Auditors if Cllr Hyman wrote to him setting out his concerns.

With regards to the Local Plan, Iain Murray explained that in contrast to the previous two years, significant progress had been made with the submission of the Draft Local Plan for examination. It was felt that the key issue now was the decision in relation to the Dunsfold Park planning application, which had been called-in. The statement of risks in relation to the Local Plan and Dunsfold Park could be re-visited if circumstances changed during the course of the audit process, but the Audit Plan represented the view as at the time  of writing.

In response to questions from the Committee, Iain Murray confirmed that the External Audit Plan was in  line with the requirements of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 and in accordance with the National Audit Office Code of Practice 2015. The Value for Money conclusion was based on criteria set out in National Audit Office guidance for 2016/17 issued in November 2016.

Cllr Hyman advised that Waverley’s Opposition Group had concerns in relation to performance against the sub-criteria detailed on page 12 of the Audit Plan.

With regard to the audit timeline, the Chairman noted that it was very tight, and it was important that the Committee had the report on the final accounts in time to review them thoroughly before the Audit Committee meeting on 24 July. Iain Murray agreed that the timetable was ambitious, but he was confident that they could meet it. The aim was to provide the audited accounts two weeks before the Committee meeting, and a meeting had been scheduled for the Committee to review the unaudited accounts on 9 June.

In conclusion, the Committee RESOLVED to note the External Audit Plan for 2016/17.