Minutes:
Mark Saunders, Chief Accountant, introduced himself to members of the committee and explained that as part of his role he will be presenting various items to the committee during the municipal year. He referred to the External Audit for the 2021/22 municipal year and explained that the auditors are submitting queries on a very frequent basis which are being responded to. He added that he was due to have a meeting in the next day or so with the external auditors to try and resolve the outstanding issues to ascertain and agree a timetable to finalise the audit.
Mark Saunders explained that the issue is not one that just effects this Council as it appears to be a national issue and auditors across the country are way behind with the completion of 2021/22 audits. He referred to a letter recently received from the Department of Levelling Up with regards to local audits making the point that they are currently undertaking an inquiry into the local audit regime.
Mark Saunders pointed out that within that letter it states that only 27% of audits for the 2021/22 financial year have been completed and the combined total of outstanding audits dating back to 2015/2016 is now 520 and it is a very widescale national problem for auditors not being able to complete audits for local authorities. He added that the Department of Levelling Up will be consulting over the summer about introducing various measures in which to try and overcome and conclude some of the outstanding audits and it is hoped that the Council’s audit should be concluded fairly quickly unless any new queries are raised.
Mark Saunders said looking forward it is hoped that the external auditors report concerning the audit of the Statement of Accounts for 2021/22 can be presented to the committee in September and following that they will be able to sign of the 2021/22 final accounts which can then be published on the Council’s website. The final Statement of Accounts will also be presented to the committee at the September meeting.
Mark Saunders explained that completion work for the 2022/23 is still in progress, whilst monitoring work for 2023/24 is taking place. He added that in August the budget process for 2024/25 will commence and with all these aspects ongoing it does become challenging.
Mark Saunders explained that the two issues which appear to cause the auditors problems when considering the local authority accounts are the pension valuations and the PPE which is the property planning equipment or asset valuations. He added that both aspects of that work are undertaken by expert external consultants, however, those topics still appear to raise queries but will make no difference to the Council’s accounts.
Mark Saunders stated that the external auditors will present their report to the committee and will also present their audit opinion at the same time. He explained that the external auditors have already advised that they will not be able to commence on audits on the 2022/23 accounts until November 2023 and, therefore, looking forward there may well be some changes to the work programme over the course of the next few meetings.
Peter Catchpole explained that the situation is becoming somewhat of a challenge for the team professionally because it is not something that they welcome or are used to. He stated that the 2021/22 accounts were published by the Council by the end of July which is in accordance with guidelines which have been adhered to.
Peter Catchpole stated that he has not yet authorised the publication of the 2022/23 accounts because until he has an audit opinion on the 2021/22 accounts, he does not feel he can answer the statutory true and fair question and, therefore, the accounts for that financial year will not be published until the 2021/22 accounts are concluded. He stated that if there is an issue with the 2021/22 accounts that would mean that the opening balance into the 2022/23 accounts would be affected.
Peter Catchpole stated that on a positive note the Council finds itself in a far better position than a number of other neighbouring authorities, who still have outstanding accounts for 2019/20. He added that he would hope that by the September committee meeting he can bring some of the outstanding matters to the meeting but there could be some slippage with the work programme but that will not be due to the officer’s want of trying.
Members asked questions, made comments, and received responses as follows:
· Councillor Christy asked for reassurance that event though there are various aspects outstanding with regards to accounts and audits, there is no adverse impact on the Council? Mark Saunders stated that whilst there are matters outstanding there is no impact to the general financial position of the Council. Peter Catchpole explained that the details concerning the financial out turn for 2022/23 was presented to Cabinet which outlined the financial position of the Council, and he would prefer to see the statement of accounts signed off, but the facts and figures have been presented to Cabinet and are available for everybody to see.