Contact: Paul Carey-Kent, Deputy Treasurer, 01962 847525;

[email protected]

1 Introduction

1.1 The Accounts and Audit Regulations 2003 require the Statement of Accounts for 2004/05 to be approved by the Authority by 31 July 2005, before an audit opinion will be given.

1.2 The draft Statement is attached as the appendix, for approval. It is consistent with the figures in the Final Accounts 2004/05 report also on this agenda.

1 Statement of Accounts 2004/05

1.1 The form of the Statement is prescribed by a Code of Practice which constitutes proper accounting practice as required by Section 66 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, the code is updated each year to take account of the changes in accounting standards.

1.2 The Accounts include the Authority Assurance Statement which requires the formal approval of the Governance Committee, the meeting of which is scheduled to commence on the rising of this meeting.

1.3 There are no significant changes to the accounts for 2004/05.

1.4 After final editing and the external audit certificate has been obtained the Statement will be published and copies of the document will be sent to Members.

2 Statement of Accounts 2005/06

2.1 Members may be aware that under the Accounts and Audit regulations the timetable for the closure of accounts has been shortened over a phased basis. From 2005/06 the accounts will need to be approved by the Authority by 30 June and published by 30 September each year.

2.2 Although Committee dates have not yet been set for 2006, the established practice of this Committee meeting during July works well for reporting budget monitoring. Therefore, in order that this timetable can be met, it is recommended that an Accounts Panel be established and authority be given to that panel to approve the Statement of Accounts alongside the Final Accounts towards the end of June each year. It is suggested that the panel should consist of seven Members which would be in line with the Standards Committee (4 Conservative:2 Liberal Democrats:1 Labour), the appointment to which can be made at the Authority's annual meeting in May.

3 Equality impact assessment

3.1 An impact assessment has been made on the proposals in the paper and shown that they are not discriminatory. They are considered compatible with the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights, the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Race Relations (Amendment Act 2000).

Recommendations

1 That the Draft Statement of Accounts attached as the appendix be approved, subject to the formal approval of the Authority Assurance Statement by the Governance Committee.

2 That it be recommended to the Authority that an Accounts Panel be established to approve the Final Accounts and Statement of Accounts from 2005/06 onwards.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background documents

The following documents discuss facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and have been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB the list excludes:

1. Published works.

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

HFRA Statement of Accounts 2004/05