Oakham Town Council Accounts 2014 - 2015 Update
I have asked for a copy of the £3000 review report produced by Streets Accountants.
The Clerk is to busy to photocopy today.
This morning The Clerk sent the following email it would appear the "incompetence and sloppiness"
a description used publicly by Cllr Elliott has now spread to further than the accounts preparation.
All
Please note that agendas and supporting documents will be posted out today.
If you are going to collect them then can you please let me know asap and at what time.
They will not be completed before lunchtime although the actual agenda will be posted on the website and put in the noticeboard outside the Victoria Hall as soon as I have tidied it up.
The supporting documents will be re-numbered so please bear in mind when you get your envelopes that the actual report number and Appendix letter on any reports may not be in sequence. The agenda item numbers on the reports will be though. Hope that makes sense!
Accounts – Restated accounts will be with the agenda. Michael and myself have been working on these and Alf is also aware of the revisions that have been made.
In order to clarify matters detailed in the report from Streets it was decided that we needed to have someone from them present while we finalised them. She came down yesterday and although no fee was mentioned it may well be that the Council is charged. I authorised this as without someone from Streets present it is highly unlikely that the work would have been completed in time for next week.
For your information, remedial works to the skatepark are due to be completed today and once done the Heras fencing will be removed.
Richard White
Clerk to Oakham Town Council
01572 723627
Dear Richard
As the Agendas for next week's meeting is not yet completed please can you add the following
email from Streets Accountants to my report asking for the 2014 - 2015 Accounts to be audited.
I am reading from your email that next week's meeting will include an agenda to accept
the newly
revised accounts.
I do not believe it will be lawful for members to accept accounts that have not been
audited.
Streets Accountants have made it very clear in their email to me that they were
carrying out an audit.
Martin,
Thank you for your email and I note your comments.
In terms of the points referred to –
2.4 essentially highlights that we are not able to provide complete assurance in respect of the areas mentioned. We cannot provide complete assurance as our work is performed on a sample basis.
2.5 confirms that we will not be carrying out detailed review work in accordance with International Auditing Standards. However, as we discussed on the telephone yesterday our work will include an examination of the internal financial systems and controls and we shall comment on these accordingly – particularly if we consider there to be weaknesses or areas for improvement.
Whilst we will not actively be looking from misappropriation or fraudulent activity, we are always mindful of this in such assignments and should we identify anything in this regard which we feel ought to be reported to the Council then we shall do so. Ultimately we would decline to issue our report if we felt that the underlying information was incorrect or misleading – I would draw your attention to section 2.7 of the engagement letter which sets this out quite clearly.
Best wishes
Chris
Chris Hubbard ACA | Partner | Streets Chartered Accountants
Windsor House, A1 Business Park at Long Bennington, Nottingham, NG23 5JR
T: 01476 590838 | F: 01476 590795
chubbard@streetsweb.co.uk | www.streetsweb.co.uk
I have asked for a copy of the £3000 review report produced by Streets Accountants.
The Clerk is to busy to photocopy today.
This morning The Clerk sent the following email it would appear the "incompetence and sloppiness"
a description used publicly by Cllr Elliott has now spread to further than the accounts preparation.
All
Please note that agendas and supporting documents will be posted out today.
If you are going to collect them then can you please let me know asap and at what time.
They will not be completed before lunchtime although the actual agenda will be posted on the website and put in the noticeboard outside the Victoria Hall as soon as I have tidied it up.
The supporting documents will be re-numbered so please bear in mind when you get your envelopes that the actual report number and Appendix letter on any reports may not be in sequence. The agenda item numbers on the reports will be though. Hope that makes sense!
Accounts – Restated accounts will be with the agenda. Michael and myself have been working on these and Alf is also aware of the revisions that have been made.
In order to clarify matters detailed in the report from Streets it was decided that we needed to have someone from them present while we finalised them. She came down yesterday and although no fee was mentioned it may well be that the Council is charged. I authorised this as without someone from Streets present it is highly unlikely that the work would have been completed in time for next week.
For your information, remedial works to the skatepark are due to be completed today and once done the Heras fencing will be removed.
Richard White
Clerk to Oakham Town Council
01572 723627
Dear Richard
As the Agendas for next week's meeting is not yet completed please can you add the following
email from Streets Accountants to my report asking for the 2014 - 2015 Accounts to be audited.
I am reading from your email that next week's meeting will include an agenda to accept
the newly
revised accounts.
I do not believe it will be lawful for members to accept accounts that have not been
audited.
Streets Accountants have made it very clear in their email to me that they were
carrying out an audit.
Martin,
Thank you for your email and I note your comments.
In terms of the points referred to –
2.4 essentially highlights that we are not able to provide complete assurance in respect of the areas mentioned. We cannot provide complete assurance as our work is performed on a sample basis.
2.5 confirms that we will not be carrying out detailed review work in accordance with International Auditing Standards. However, as we discussed on the telephone yesterday our work will include an examination of the internal financial systems and controls and we shall comment on these accordingly – particularly if we consider there to be weaknesses or areas for improvement.
Whilst we will not actively be looking from misappropriation or fraudulent activity, we are always mindful of this in such assignments and should we identify anything in this regard which we feel ought to be reported to the Council then we shall do so. Ultimately we would decline to issue our report if we felt that the underlying information was incorrect or misleading – I would draw your attention to section 2.7 of the engagement letter which sets this out quite clearly.
Best wishes
Chris
Chris Hubbard ACA | Partner | Streets Chartered Accountants
Windsor House, A1 Business Park at Long Bennington, Nottingham, NG23 5JR
T: 01476 590838 | F: 01476 590795
chubbard@streetsweb.co.uk | www.streetsweb.co.uk
