Agenda item

The Committee had before it a report by the Executive Director of Corporate Services which (1) provided Elected Members with an overview of the Council’s 2023/24 unaudited Annual Accounts; (2) presented the Annual Governance Statement for scrutiny and approval; and (3) presented the unaudited Annual Accounts for those registered charities where the Council was the sole trustee and was subject to statutory requirements for separate accounts and audit opinions.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee -

(a)      approve the Annual Governance Statement as included in the Council’s unaudited Annual Accounts for the financial year 2023/24;

(b)      consider the Council’s unaudited Annual Accounts 2023/24;

(c)       consider the unaudited Annual Accounts 2023/24 of the Council’s registered   charities;

(d)      note that following this meeting the Council’s and the registered charities’ unaudited Annual Accounts would be finalised, signed by the Chief Officer - Finance and submitted to the Council’s external auditors, Audit Scotland;

(e)      note that the Audit, Risk and Scrutiny Committee on 27 June 2024 would receive the Council’s audited Annual Accounts for consideration and approval prior to their signature by the Chief Officer - Finance, Chief Executive and Council Co-Leaders;

(f)       note that the Audit, Risk and Scrutiny Committee on 27 June 2024 would also receive the external auditor’s report on the annual accounts for debate and consideration and that this report would set out the auditor’s findings and conclusions, highlight any significant issues arising from the audit of the Annual Accounts and inform Elected Members of the proposed audit opinion in advance of the accounts being approved; and

(g)      note that the Audit, Risk and Scrutiny Committee on 27 June 2024 would also receive the audited Annual Accounts for the registered charities for consideration and approval prior to their signature along with the associated external auditor’s report.

In response to a question relating to whether the credit rating was due to the Bond and what the offer was at the time of setting up the Bond, the Chief Officer – Finance advised that the credit rating was in place due to the Bond which was reassessed annually.  He further advised that the capital programme at the time was used to identify different ways to borrow funding.

In response to a question relating to the reason for the deficit in the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), the Chief Officer – Finance advised that there were various factors affecting the HRA including increased interest rates, low rent increases and lost income from void properties before bringing them back in to use.  He further advised that the Council had approved for £3m to be allocated for RAAC which had impacted the accounts.

In response to a question relating to digital investment and whether this was capital and revenue funding, the Chief Officer – Finance advised that there was capital expenditure via the capital programme for ICT investment, in particular in education and that the transformation fund had helped to support the programme.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)        to agree to amend table 4 on page 42 of the annual accounts, to reflect that from 18 March 2024, Councillor Bouse was no longer Vice Convener of Planning Development Management Committee and was in receipt of senior renumeration for his role as Vice Convener of the Anti-Poverty and Inequality Committee; and

(ii)       to otherwise approve the recommendations contained in the report.