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AUDIT COMMITTEE - 24 JUNE 2009 ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE PUBLIC INSPECTIONOF THE ACCOUNTS
Report by the Assistant Chief Executive & Chief Finance Officer
1. At the Audit Committee meeting on 24 September 2008 officers agreed to report on the arrangements for the inspection of the accounts in advance of the inspection period commencing. This was in response to concerns raised by the external auditors over the handling of queries last year.
2. This report sets out the arrangements for 2008/09.
Legal Requirements
3. The rights of local government electors to inspect the accounts are set out in the Audit Commission Act 1998 (as amended) and the detailed regulations that set out how these rights can be used are contained in the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2003 (as amended).
4. The County Council is required to make the accounts available for public inspection for a 20 working day period following the approval of the accounts by this Committee. Any person interested may, during this period, inspect the accounts to be audited and all books, deeds, contracts, bills, vouchers and receipts relating to them; and, make copies of all or any part of the accounts and those other documents.
5. The County Council is required to tell the public, by advertising in at least one local newspaper, that their accounts and other documents are available for inspection. This notice must be published at least 14 days before the start of the public inspection period.
Public Inspection Period
6. The public inspection period for the 2008/09 accounts has been set as the 6 to the 31 July 2009.
7. Notice of electors’ rights to inspect the accounts will be placed in the Banbury Guardian and Oxford Times on the 18/19 June 2009 respectively. In addition, following approval of the accounts by this Committee, the unaudited statement of accounts will be placed on the County Council’s website along with a copy of the public notice. Dealing with Electors’ Queries
8. David Illingworth, Principal Finance Manager (Projects & Performance) will act as the lead on dealing with all electors’ queries. He will inform the Freedom of Information Team of any queries raised, liaise with directorates over responding to queries and track progress to ensure that any queries are dealt with within a reasonable time period. If he believes that any request is unreasonable, potentially oppressive or an abuse of inspection rights he will alert both the s151 Officer and Monitoring Officer who will jointly determine how the matter is to be dealt with.
9. An e-mail account will be set up specifically for electors’ to raise queries on the accounts or request documentation. The e-mail address will be made available on the County Council’s website alongside the public notice and unaudited accounts.
Notifying staff about the arrangements
10. A copy of the public notice will be sent to CCMT, Finance Business Partners, County Hall Reception and the Freedom of Information Team so that they are aware of the public inspection period, together with who to contact in the event of an elector’s question being raised.
11. A briefing session will be held for all staff likely to be involved on the inspection requirements and on these arrangements.
RECOMMENDATION
12. The Committee is RECOMMENDED to note and approve the arrangements in place for the public inspection of the 2008/09 accounts.
SUE SCANE Assistant Chief Executive & Chief Finance Officer
Background Papers: Nil
Contact Officer: Stephanie Skivington, Strategic Finance Manager (Financial Accounting & Reporting) Tel: (01865) 797443
June 2009
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