NORTH WESTERN AND NORTH WALES SEA FISHERIES COMMITTEE
OFFICER’S REPORT
ACCOUNTS: ANNUAL RETURN 2005-2006
Report by the Finance/Admin. Officer
A. Purpose of Report
To introduce Members to the new form of Annual Return and to obtain approval for 2005-2006 Return.
B. Recommendation
1. That Members give their approval to the 2005-2006 Annual Return.
2. That Members approve the use of local accountants, Lonsdale & Partners, to continue to carry out the internal audit function on behalf of the Committee.
1. Background
1.1 Recent changes in legislation are detailed in the Background to Agenda Item 14.
1.2 With effect from the 2005-2006 year, the minimum audit requirement is the completion of an Annual Return which, after approval by Members, is submitted to the Audit Commission for examination.
1.3 Because of delays by the Audit Commission in notifying us of the legislative changes and in sending the blank Annual Return for us to complete, we were unable to present this Return to Members at the September 2006 meeting of this Committee.
2. The 2005-06 Return
2.1 A copy of this Return is at Annex A.
2.2 Page 1 is a guide to completion and an aide-memoire to ensure all the relevant information is provided to the Audit Commission.
2.3 Page 2 is a record of certain figures, extracted from the Committee’s detailed accounts, and signed off by the Chief Executive as Responsible Financial Officer.
2.4 Page 3 is a Statement of Assurance signed on your behalf by the Chairman. Normally this would be completed after Members had approved the Return but, in the light of 1.3 above, the Audit Commission agreed to Minute 137 of the September meeting being recorded (this Minute approved the Statement of Accounts for 2005-2006).
2.5 Page 4 is completed by the external auditor, the Audit Commission, after all other pages have been completed and any required supporting documentation has been provided.
2.6 Page 5 is completed by the Committee’s internal auditor. This year, because of the reduced time available, it was considered prudent to ask a well-known firm of local Accountants to undertake this role.
3. Internal Audit
3.1 This year a firm of local accountants carried out a one-day audit, using guidelines provided by A Practitioners’ Guide for Governance and Accountability in Local Councils in England and Wales.
3.2 Officers were reassured by the scope and thoroughness of the audit and suggest that this method of internal audit should continue.
JOHN DAVIES
Finance/Admin. Officer
23rd October 2006
LOCAL GOVERNMENT (ACCESS TO INFORMATION) ACT, 1985
List of Background Papers
There are no background papers to this report.