Our final accounts

The final accounts set out the cost of running Hampshire County Council’s services in 2010/11. These are published in the format required by international accounting standards and the code of practice for preparing local authority final accounts. Full details are available in the 2010/11 Statement of Accounts.

The General Fund

The General Fund balance is the surplus of revenue income over expenditure. It compares the Council's spending against the council tax it raised for the year, taking into account the use of reserves built up in the past and contributions to reserves earmarked for future expenditure.

The surplus on the provision of services shown on the Comprehensive Statement of Income and Expenditure includes items which the Government stipulates should not be chargeable to the General Fund. These are mainly associated with asset depreciation and retirement benefit accrual which do not necessarily lead to short or medium term cash flows. Therefore, these are transferred to the Balance Sheet and replaced with the employer’s pension contribution and the annual repayment of loans for capital expenditure.

	£m
General Fund balance at 31 March 2010	37
Surplus on the provision of services *	236
Net adjustment between accounting basis and funding basis	-201
Balance before transfer to earmarked reserves	72
Transfers to earmarked reserves	-51
General Fund balance at 31 March 2011	21

Further details about the General Fund can be found in the Movement in Reserves Statement and notes 7 to 9 of the 2010/11 Statement of Accounts.

* As noted on the our spending webpage, the surplus on the provision of services mainly arises from a reduction in the valuation of pension fund liabilities related to past service. This results from the Government’s decision taken in June 2010 to base statutory pension increases in future on the increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rather than the Retail Price Index (RPI). This is not chargeable to the General Fund.

The Balance Sheet

The Balance Sheet presents the financial position of the County Council at 31 March 2011. It shows what the Council owned, owes and was owed on that date.

	£m
What we own:
Land, buildings, vehicles, equipment and infrastructure	3,804
Money owed to the Council	361
	4,165
Less what we owe:
Money owed by the Council	833
Pension Fund net liability	754
	1,587
Equals what we are worth:	2,578
Financed by:
Cash-backed reserves *	235
Non-cash-backed reserves #	2,343
Total net worth	2,578

* Cash-backed reserves are available, as needed, to finance revenue and capital spending.

# Non-cash backed reserves would only become usable if the County Council was to dispose of all its fixed assets at their balance sheet value.