Agenda item

Report of Financial Services Manager.

Cabinet lead member:  Councillor Gill Mattock.

Final outturn for 2014/15 agreed and transfer to reserves and provisions as set out in paragraphs 2.3 and 3.2. of the report approved.

12.1 Cabinet considered the report of the Financial Services Manager presenting the annual accounts and final budget outturn figures for 2014/15 for the information of the Cabinet.  Under the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2011 the deadline for the Council to approve the annual accounts was 30 September, after the external audit had been completed. 

12.2 A report to the Cabinet meeting on 1 June 2015 had set out the provisional outturn for 2014/15.  The forecast was for a credit variance of £216,000 on service expenditure.  Since that time the work on closing the accounts had been completed and the final outturn confirmed.  The general fund final service outturn was a favourable variance of £15,000.  The outturn formed part of the draft statement of accounts reported to the Audit and Governance Committee on 24 June 2015.  The committee would be asked to formally approve the accounts at their September meeting. 

12.3 The main change from the details of the service variances reported to the June Cabinet related to an adjustment for movements in bad debt provision, lower than expected government grants to support business rates reliefs and government support to compensate below inflation increases charged to business ratepayers.

12.4 The general fund balance at 31 March 2015 was £4.899m.  Details of other reserves were included in the accounts.  In addition to the transfers to and from reserves as approved by Cabinet on the 1 June 2015, a transfer of £488,015 was made to the capital programme reserve in line with the budget strategy representing the balancing mechanism on capital financing costs.  This included savings on external interest payable due to the continued use of internal balances and the actual timing of capital spending incurred compared to the expected cash flow profile.  The final capital expenditure figure for the year was £17.6m compared to a revised budget of £19.0m a variance of £1.4m or 7.8%.

12.5 The housing revenue account (HRA) figure previously reported to Cabinet in June had been a favourable variance of £186,000.  The final net expenditure for the year was £445,500; a variance against budget of £137,000.  This movement in variance was due to a reduction in the level of the provision for bad debts.  The HRA balance as at 31 March 2014 was £3.150m.  Transfer of £700,000 was made to the housing regeneration and investment reserve in line with the budget strategy and the 30 year housing business plan. This represented the variance between the budgeted and actual depreciation allowance.

12.6 The external auditor was due to commence work on 20 July and the accounts would be open for public inspection between 13 July and 7 August 2015. The date for questioning the external auditor had been set as 10 August 2015 until the end of the audit. 

12.7 An overview of the accounts was appended to the report.  The full accounts were available to view on the council’s website.  Councillor Mattock expressed her appreciation for the work undertaken by the Financial Services Manager and her team for their work in presenting the annual accounts.

12.8 Resolved (key decision): (1) That the final outturn for 2014/15 be agreed.

(2) That the transfer to reserves and provisions as set out in paragraphs 2.3 and 3.2. of the report be approved.