The Leader of the Council introduced a report by the Director of Resources that informed that the Council’s Constitution allocated responsibility for the approval of the Statement of Accounts to the Audit and Risk Management Committee.  The draft statement for 2013/14 published on 30 June 2014 had been subject to audit by Grant Thornton, the Council’s External Auditors, and their findings had been presented to the Audit and Risk Management Committee at its meeting on 17 September 2014.  The Cabinet noted that the Statement of Accounts 2013/14 had been published on 30 September 2014 – the statutory deadline for publication. 

The Statement of Accounts had included the Merseyside Pension Fund (MPF) accounts as Wirral Council was the Administering Authority for MPF.  As the MPF received a separate Audit Findings report it had been considered by the Pensions Committee at its meeting on 15 September 2014 and by Audit and Risk Management Committee at its meeting on 17 September 2014, as part of the process for approving the accounts. 

Appended to the report was the Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of Wirral Council (as contained in the Statement of Accounts 2013/14).

The Leader informed that the Auditor’s Report and Opinion identified that all five areas of assessment under Accounting, Policies and estimates were rated as green and this was positive and encouraging. Besides commenting on the Financial Statements Grant Thornton had also reported on the Councils’ arrangements for securing economy, efficiency and effectiveness in the use of resources for the year ended 31 March 2014. For 2013/14 Grant Thornton concluded that the Council had in place proper arrangements for the year ending 31 March 2014.  The Cabinet noted that significant progress had been made here because this had not been the case in 2012/13 when the Auditor’s had provided an adverse conclusion.

RESOLVED: That

(1)  the Statement of Accounts 2013/14 and the Grant Thornton Audit Findings Report and Value for Money Report be noted; and

(2)  progress on delivering the actions identified in the Value for Money Report be monitored by Audit and Risk Management Committee.