Statement of Responsibilities for the Statement of Accounts

1 The Council's responsibilities

The Council is required:

· to make arrangements for the proper administration of its financial affairs and to secure that one of its officers has the responsibility for the administration of those affairs. In this Council, that officer is the County Treasurer

· to manage its affairs so as to secure economic, efficient and effective use of resources and safeguard its assets

· to approve the statement of accounts.

2 The County Treasurer's responsibilities

The County Treasurer is responsible for the preparation of the Council's statement of accounts in accordance with proper practices as set out in the (CIPFA)/(LASAAC) Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting in Great Britain (`the SORP').

In preparing this statement of accounts, the County Treasurer has:

· selected suitable accounting policies and applied them consistently

· made judgements and estimates that were reasonable and prudent

· complied with the Code of Practice.

The County Treasurer has also:

· kept proper accounting records which are up to date

· taken reasonable steps for the prevention of fraud and other irregularities.

3 The County Treasurer's statement

I certify that the statement of accounts presents fairly the financial position of the County Council as at 31 March 2005 and its income and expenditure for the year ended 31 March 2005.

J C Pittam BSc CPFA

County Treasurer

5 July 2005

4 The Chairman's statement

I certify that the statement of accounts for 2004/05 was considered and approved at the Statement of Accounts Panel meeting on 13 July 2005.

Chairman Date