Agenda item

Report of the External Auditor

The Committee received the Annual Audit Letter 2017/18 from Mazars summarising the 2017/18 audit of Durham County Council and Durham County Council Pension Fund (for copy see file of Minutes).

Mr Collins, Mazars explained that it was a large exercise of work to obtain information on the new IFRS 16 (International Financial Reporting Standard).  The Corporate Director of Resources provided assurances that a lot of work was ongoing and that he would provide an update to the Committee about the key aspects involved in the process. 

Referring to the Aykley Heads site, Mr Robinson asked if talks were ongoing with Assets about the valuation.  The Corporate Director of Resources assured him that the processes were in place.

Mr Rudd referred to the high risk of valuations in the Auditor’s report and asked for a summary about the issues at hand.  The Corporate Director of Resources explained that the issue was about the indexation of asset valuation and the previous year was regarding floor space.  He assured the Committee that the appropriate processes were in place.  Mr Kirkham, Mazars added that the 2017/18 issue was relating to market data.

Resolved:

That the contents of the annual audit letter and report be noted.