Agenda item

This report provides the Audit & Governance Committee with the outcome and findings of the external audits of the 2022/23 financial statements of Hendeca Group Ltd, Surrey Choices Ltd, Halsey Garton Residential Ltd, Halsey Garton Property Ltd, and Surrey and Kent Commercial Services LLP (trading as Connect 2 Surrey).

Witnesses:

Bill Harrow, Senior Finance Business Partner (Commercial)

Key points raised in the discussion:

1.    The Senior Finance Business Partner (Commercial) noted the unqualified audit opinions for the 2022/23 external audit reports of each subsidiary, the results were consolidated to the Council’s accounts. Findings included: management had appropriate procedures in place to prevent overrides of internal controls, found no indication of management bias or significant transactions outside the normal course of business, revenue was found to be recognised correctly across all the entities, no issues were found with the recoverability of debtors and reasonable assurance was obtained.

2.    The Chairman welcomed the positive report for all the subsidiaries, there were no material misstatements. 

3.    A Committee member welcomed the collated report and useful pointers concerning the value of properties. He queried why the various subsidiaries used different external auditors. The Senior Finance Business Partner (Commercial) explained that each subsidiary decides who their external auditors were.

RESOLVED:

That the Committee considered the contents of the 2022/23 Audit Reports for the entities referred to in the report. The Financial Statements for each company were shared as background information.

Actions/further information to be provided:

None.