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,
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
The Committee then
briefly discussed the exit strategy available should
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.