Agenda item

The Committee received the Annual Audit Letter 2015/16 from Mazars summarising the 2015/16 audit of Durham County Council and Durham County Council Pension Fund (for copy see file of Minutes).

Mr J Collins, Mazars introduced Mr M Kirkham who would be taking over the responsibility from Mr Waddell.  The Chairman welcomed Mr Kirkham to the meeting.

Mr Collins advised that all deadlines had been met and an unqualified opinion had been issued for both the County Council and Pension Fund Accounts. He advised that there would be challenges ahead with the early close down of accounts.  A dry run would be taking place this financial year and work was ongoing with the finance team to ensure that deadlines were met.  A change in the code for the highways infrastructure would have a huge impact on the balance sheet.

He concluded that the Council’s arrangements were very good and that there was a lot of work ahead to ensure we were ready for the change in accounting dates.

Resolved:

That the contents of the letter are noted.