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 make one of its officers responsible for the administration of those affairs. In this Council, that officer is the County Treasurer

· manage its affairs so as to use resources economically, efficiently and effectively and safeguard its assets

· approve the statement of accounts.

2 The County Treasurer's responsibilities

The County Treasurer is responsible for preparing 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.

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 to prevent 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 2008 and its income and expenditure for the year ended 31 March 2008.

J C Pittam BSc CPFA

County Treasurer

June 2008

4 The Chairman's statement

I certify that the statement of accounts for 2007/08 was considered and approved at the Governance Committee meeting on 26 June 2008.

Chairman Date