Agenda item

This report requests Members to consider the updated 2022/23 Statement of Accounts, and to approve these as the Council’s final audited accounts for the year. The Committee is further asked to authorise the Chair to acknowledge this approval on behalf of the Committee by signing the appropriate section within the Statement of Responsibilities on page 1 of the accounts.

The report of the Chief Finance Officer presented the audit report of the Council’s external auditors on the 2022/23 accounts. An updated copy of the Statement of Accounts was published and sent to Members of the Committee as supplementary information.

The Committee were provided with the following information:

·  The 2022/23 Statement of Accounts were originally approved in draft form in July 2023. At that stage the 2021/22 audit was still ongoing. Therefore, the final 2022/23 accounts have been updated to include the final version of the 2021/22 audited figures. The 2022/23 figures had been updated for consequential changes to asset valuations, they had also been updated for a small number of asset valuations that had arrived too late to be included in the original 2022/23 accounts and a small number of corrections to asset valuations. It was noted that these represented the biggest changes in terms of value from the original draft accounts but do affect spendable reserves.

·  There had been two corrections affecting spendable reserves which included increasing revenue reserves by £5.6m and decreasing usable capital reserves by £6m.

·  Since the accounts were circulated to the Committee there had been a small number of rounding errors in the explanatory tables which have been corrected and a small number of typographical errors in the narrative notes.

·  Members’ attention was drawn to Appendix 1 – The Management Letter. Grant Thornton request this prior to them signing off on the audit of accounts. It was confirmed that officers were satisfied that the contents of the letter were correct and that it can be signed on behalf of the Council.

Grant Thornton presented their ISA 260 report and highlighted the following points:

·  The 2021/22 accounts were signed of in March 2024 and following that the external auditors and the Council’s finance officers started on the 2022/23 accounts audit.

·  The Committee were informed of the increased level of engagement and increased quality of accompanying working papers and timeliness of responses from finance officers. It was recognised that this increased level of timeliness etc needed to be maintained as Grant Thornton move into the 2023/24 accounts audit in October with a view to concluding that before the national backstop of February 2025.

·  It was noted that work had progressed in relation to several areas which had been set out in the report as outstanding as at the date the Committee papers were published, with some areas completed.

·  The Committee were informed that Grant Thornton was expecting to be able to issue a clean unqualified opinion within the next week.

·  In relation to the Value for Money work which came to the Committee in November 2023, Grant Thornton had raised two key recommendations around transformational plans and a balanced budget and sustainability on financial savings and sustainability. With a key point around the accounts audit process. The Committee were advised that the 2023/24 Value for Money work was nearing completion and will be coming to the November meeting of the Committee.

Comments included:

·  The Committee were pleased with the work over the last 6 months to reach this point. It was recognised that there were pressures on both officers and the auditors to reach the deadline dates, with both committed to maintaining levels of engagement and quality of documents and responses.

·  The Committee acknowledged the challenges faced by officers with new systems being implemented and the budget setting during the period heading towards the February audit backstop date. The Committee requested that they be kept informed of any issues arising.

·  It was recognised the work and effort that had been undertaken to get the audit to the position it is, and it was noted by the Committee that the Financial Services were to do a lesson learned report. The team would be project managing the audit to ensure that the accounts were ready in time for the February backstop date.

·  It was noted that the backstop date for the 2024/25 accounts would be February 2026.

The Chair thanked all the finance officers and Grant Thornton staff for all the work that had been achieved to get this point on behalf of the Committee. She also thanked Gareth Mills of Grant Thornton for the support he has given to the Council and the Committee over the last 5 years and wished him well for the future as he takes on another role.

RESOLVED – To:

a) Receive the audit report of the Council’s external auditors on the 2022/23 accounts and to note that there are expected to be no unadjusted audit differences to the accounts.

b) Consider the updated 2022/23 Statement of Accounts, and to approve these as the Council’s final audited accounts for the year. The Committee is further asked to authorise the Chair to acknowledge this approval on behalf of the Committee by signing the appropriate section within the Statement of Responsibilities on page 1 of the accounts; and

c) On the basis of the assurances received, the Chair is asked to sign the management representation letter on behalf of the Corporate Governance and Audit Committee.

Councillor Dowson left the meeting at 11:55 at the end of this item.