1 THE ISSUE

This report summarises and introduces the Council's Statement of Accounts for 2001/02.

2 RECOMMENDATION

The Executive is asked to approve the Statement of Accounts for 2001/02 in accordance with the Accounts and Audit Regulations.

3. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

The effect of the outturn position on balances is outlined the report.

4 COUNCIL'S ACCOUNTS 2001/02

4.1 The Accounts and Audit Regulations 1996 require the Council to produce a Statement of Accounts, following the relevant accounting guidelines, and for these to be approved by Members within 6 months of the year end. The approval of the Accounts serves to emphasise Members' ownership of the statement.

4.2 A detailed report of the revenue outturn for 2001/02 was presented to the Executive at its 12th July meeting. Whilst there have been no significant changes to the revenue outturn, there are technical differences between the reports and these are outlined below.

4.3 The published accounts differ from the quarterly budget management reports which are reported regularly to the Executive, as they comply with the relevant Local Authority Accounting Code of Practice (ACOP). In particular :

· Depreciation and capital charges are included in service expenditure although, since these are offset by appropriations, this has no effect on the Council's 'bottom line'. The Local Authority ACOP also requires a standard service expenditure analysis which makes comparing Councils' accounts easier. (Note this does not tie in with the Council's management structure.

· The published Accounts include all spending which the Council incurs, whereas the regular reports focus on budgeted expenditure and income. Hence the Accounts include, for example, Parish precepts and the Council's contribution to Housing Benefits under the Council Tax subsidy limitation scheme. This is a Government Regulation whereby Councils increasing their Council Tax above a specified percentage are required to pay for part of the increased cost of Benefits from their own resources.

· During 2001/2 the Council closed its Housing Revenue Account and received the Government's approval to transfer the balance on that account into the General Fund. This added £1.91 million to General Fund balances and was allowed for in setting the Council's budget for the current year.

4.4 The Council's revenue Accounts are summarised as :

Further information can be found in the Statement of Accounts.

4.5 The position of General Fund balances was reported on at the Executive's July meeting.

4.6 The Accounts will be examined in detail by the District Auditor, who expects to complete his audit by the end of November. His comments will be included in their annual Management Letter, which will be reported to the Executive.