(a)

Grant Thornton proposed to provide an unqualified opinion on the Council’s financial statements for the year ending 31 March 2013 confirming that the financial statements comply with accepted accounting procedures however some key issues were raised;

(b)

the Council had not followed the accounting treatment for its Icelandic Bank investments in accordance with the CIPFA guidance issued;

(c)

Grant Thornton had identified the need for the Council to include three additional disclosures in relation to the post balance sheet events: the disposal of the Civic Centre; the governance arrangements for the Devon Waste Partnership agreement; and further clarification for the amount expended to date on the waste partnership arrangements;

(d)

Grant Thornton considered that the Council had not included a provision within its financial statements for the future after-care costs of managing its closed landfill site; an additional disclosure note had been added to the financial statements setting out estimated future costs of £6.6m;

(e)

the Council’s joint waste PFI scheme with Devon County Council and Torbay Council would become operational in 2014/15; governance arrangements and accounting treatment still needed to be finalised;

(f)

governance arrangements for the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry joint operation still needed to be finalised;

(g)

with regards to the treatment of the Icelandic Bank officers confirmed that the Council had been prudent with its approach in calculating the impairment adjustment within the accounts due to the continued uncertainty over the level of future recovery; this was consistent with the treatment in previous years;

(h)

Grant Thornton confirmed that Plymouth City Council was not alone in its approach to the auditing arrangements for the Icelandic Bank issue;

(i)

with regards to the issue of future after care costs of managing the Council’s closed landfill site, officers confirmed that the requirement for this provision and associated accounting treatment was not included in the accounts due to issue with timing and staffing levels. It was considered that the amendments were technical accounting issues and would not affect the cash position of the Council. With respect to officer time, it was considered that several days’ work was required to include this information in the audit. Given that the amendment would not have any impact on the reader’s ability to interpret the accounts, and that there was no impact on the financial result or council tax levels, officer had decided not to make the amendment this year. However, it would be included from next year;

(j)

with regards to the issue of the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry Joint Committee governance arrangements, officers were currently in communication with colleagues in Cornwall and it was reported that progress was being made on this matter;  this was not expected to be an issue for next year’s accounts;