BYRON SHIRE COUNCIL
13.5 - Attachment 5
BYRON SHIRE COUNCIL
SPECIAL PURPOSE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT
Report on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying financial statements, being special purpose financial statements, of Byron Shire Council (“the Council”), which comprises the statement of financial position as at 30 June 2015, the income statement for the year then ended, notes comprising a summary of significant accounting policies and other explanatory information and the statement by Councillors’ and Management.
Council’s Responsibility for the Financial Statements
The Council is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements and has determined that the basis of preparation described in Note 1 to the financial statements is appropriate to meet the requirements of the Local Government Act 1993 and meet the needs of the NSW Office of Local Government. The Council’s responsibility also includes such internal control as the Council determines is necessary to enable the preparation and fair presentation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
Auditor’s Responsibility
Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the financial statements based on our audit. We conducted our audit in accordance with Australian Auditing Standards. Those standards require that we comply with relevant ethical requirements relating to audit engagements and plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance whether the financial statements are free from material misstatement.
An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The procedures selected depend on the auditor’s judgement, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments, the auditor considers internal control relevant to the Council’s preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Council’s internal control. An audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates made by Council, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements.
Our audit responsibility does not extend to the best practice management disclosures in note 2 and note 3, and accordingly, we do not express an opinion on such. In addition, our audit did not include an analysis of the prudence of business decisions made by Council or management.
We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion.
BYRON SHIRE COUNCIL
13.5 - Attachment 5
Independence
In conducting our audit, we have complied with the independence requirements of the Australian professional accounting bodies.
Opinion
In our opinion, the special purpose financial statements of Byron Shire Council:
a) Have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of those applicable Australian Accounting Standards detailed in Note 1 and the Local Government Code of Accounting Practice and Financial Reporting;
i. Are consistent with the Council’s accounting records;
ii. Present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Council’s nominated Business Activities as at 30 June 2015 and the results of their operations for the year then ended;
b) All information relevant to the conduct of the audit has been obtained; and
c) There are no material deficiencies in the accounting records or financial statements that we have become aware of in the course of the audit.
Basis of Accounting
Without modifying our opinion, we draw attention to Note 1 to the financial statements which describe the basis of accounting. The financial statements have been prepared for the purpose of fulfilling the financial reporting requirements of the NSW Office of Local Government. As a result, the financial statements may not be suitable for another purpose.
Dated at Lismore this 22nd day of October 2015
CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS
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K R FRANEY (Partner)
Registered Company Auditor