Issue - meetings

Consideration was given to a report from the Council's external auditors, Ernst Young, which set out the initial plans for the 2015/16 audit. Included in this is the audit of the Pension Fund which forms part of the Council's published Financial Statement of Accounts.

London Borough of Hillingdon Audit Plan

The Committee was informed that the Audit Plan covered the work which the external auditors planned to perform to provide Members with EY's opinion on whether the financial statements of the London Borough of Hillingdon gave a true and fair view of the financial position as at 31 March 2016 and of the income and expenditure for the year then ended. In addition it provided EY's conclusion on the Council's arrangements to secure economy, efficiency and effectiveness.

Detail was provided on Financial Statement Risks and Value for Money Risks. The conclusion of the Value for Money Risks was that there were no significant risks identified.

Members were informed that the expected level of materiality, calculated on the basis of 2% of gross expenditure was £13.6m and that EY planned to report on all uncorrected audit misstatements greater than £677,000.

Reference was made to EY's fees, which were a 25% reduction from last year's audit.

Hillingdon Pension Fund Audit Plan

Detail was provided on Financial Statement Risks, together with an opinion detailed on the statement.  

The materiality was calculated on the basis of 1% of the net assets of the fund, which for 2016 was estimated as £8m. In respect of this, EY reported that they would expect to report on all unadjusted misstatements greater than £400,000.

Also included in the report was a Local Government Audit Committee briefing paper which covered issues which impacted on local government and the audits which were undertaken by EY.

RESOLVED –

1.   That the EY 2015/16 Annual Audit Plan and Pension Fund Audit Plan reports be noted.