Item 12.3 - Attachment 3

Minutes of Audit Committee 7 October 2010

 

REPORT OF THE MEETING OF THE AUDIT COMMITTEE HELD IN MEETING ROOMS 1 AND 2, GROUND FLOOR, COUNCIL CHAMBER BUILDING ON THURSDAY, 7 OCTOBER 2010 AT 5.33 PM

_________________________________________________________

 

PRESENT

 

 

Mike Barry, Councillor J D Finn (arrived 5.40 pm), Councillor M McDermott and Councillor A Wilson.

 

 

IN ATTENDANCE

 

 

Denis Banicevic – External Auditor, Alistair Cochrane – Manager Finance, Grant Davies – Minute Clerk, Maurice Doria – General Counsel (arrived 5.40 pm), Francis Fernandes – Service Manager Financial Management (arrived 5.45 pm),  Dr Robert Lang – Chief Executive Officer arrived 5.45 pm) and Jason Peters – Financial Accountant.

 

 

APPOINTMENT OF CHAIRPERSON

 

 

RESOLVED              (Wilson/McDermott)

 

That Mr Mike Barry be appointed to chair the meeting in the absence of Mr Neil Adams.

 

APOLOGIES

 

 

An apology was received and accepted for the absence of Mr Neil Adams and Mr Greg  Smith – Group Manager Corporate Services.

 

 

CONFLICT OF INTEREST DECLARATIONS

 

 

No conflict of interest was declared.

 

 

PRESENTATION OF AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

 

A copy of the 2009 – 2010 Annual Financial Reports had previously been circulated to all members of the Audit Committee.

 

Council’s External Auditor, Mr Denis Banicevic of PricewaterhouseCoopers, addressed the Committee in relation to the audited financial reports and indicated that the reports were factually correct and that Council was in a sound and stable position.

 

Mr Banicevic added that Council had also performed well if the unaudited infrastructure maintenance figures were correct.

 

General Discussion

 

Councillor McDermott commented on a previous rating given by Fiscal Star ranking Council as non viable or at risk.

 

Mr Banicevic advised that he understood Fiscal Star no longer existed but added that their analysis was questionable and that he put no credence into the findings.

 

Councillor Wilson commented on the investment drop from $65M to $51M.

 

Mr Banicevic advised that the main reduction related to reserves and was detailed on page 37 of the report.

 

In response to a question from Mr Barry, Mr Banicevic advised that he was happy with the reasonableness of the revaluations.

 

Mr Barry added that he was pleased Mr Banicevic would be issuing an unqualified report and sought advice on Council’s control systems.

 

Mr Banicevic responded that control systems across local government were generally tight and that Parramatta was better than normal.

 

The Committee then briefly discussed the exit strategy available should Civic Place and/or Grocon fail and the possibility of Council seeking financial statements from Grocon.

 

Dr Lang advised that Grocon was a family company and whilst the statements could be requested, Grocon had no requirement to supply such documents.

 

 

RESOLVED              (Barry/Wilson)

 

That the audited Financial Reports be presented to Council.

 

Note

Councillor J D Finn (5.40 pm), Maurice Doria (5.40 pm), Dr Robert Lang (5.45 pm) and Francis Fernandes (5.45 pm) arrived at the meeting during discussion of this matter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

GENERAL BUSINESS

 

Statistical Information on Auditing Measures

Councillor Wilson requested that he be provided with statistical measures/benchmarking on Council’s auditing measures.

 

The Chief Executive Officer advised that this issue had been covered at the previous Audit Committee meeting when adopting the Audit Plan.

 

The CEO added that IAB would be requested to assist in the new plan and this would be available at the November Meeting.

 

Appointment of Internal Auditor

Mr Banicevic sought advice on the current position with regard to the appointment of a new Internal Auditor.

 

The CEO advised that Council was currently utilising the services of IAB following an unsuccessful attempt to replace the position. He added that Mr Doria had now taken responsibility for the area.

 

Mr Barry noted that Hawkesbury Council had also been unsuccessful in attempting to appoint a new internal auditor.

 

 

 

The meeting terminated at 6.23 pm.