Agenda item

The Committee received a report from the External Auditor explaining the scope of the audit, the risks identified and the procedures that will be performed to deliver the audit for Durham County Council (for copy see file of Minutes).

Mr M Kirkham, Mazars, advised that the significant risks included depreciation of property, plant and equipment as a key area of management judgement.

The Chairman asked if the evaluation or depreciation was flawed in some way or if it was not as robust and he was assured that this addition did not reflect the Council’s past performance but that the regulator had added the component to the plan.

Referring to the significant risk of MTFP, Mr Robinson asked if there was something that could be done to alleviate the concerns for the external auditor.  Mr Kirkham said that audit work identified whether arrangements exist and he assured members that no gaps had been identified. The Chief Internal Auditor and Corporate Fraud Manager added that Internal Audit cover this in their plan.

Resolved:

That the report be noted.