Agenda item

To receive the Executive Head of Finance’s Report No. FIN2107 (copy attached), which gives details of audit progress for the Council’s Statement of Accounts for 2019/20 and the provision of the audit opinion.

The Committee received the Executive Head of Finance’s Report No. FIN2107, which advised Members of the audit progress for the Council’s Statement of Accounts for 2019/20 and the provision of the audit opinion since the previous meeting on 25th January 2021.  The Committee was reminded that the deadline for issuing a final set out audit statements of accounts and audit opinion of 30th November 2020 had not been met.

The Chairman welcomed Maria Grindley from Ernst & Young (EY) to the meeting who was in attendance to provide an update on the work of EY on the current audit.

The Report advised Members that, owing to the impact of Covid-19, the deadlines for the completion and publication of the 2019/20 accounts had been relaxed in recognition of the possible disruption to relevant authorities caused by the coronavirus pandemic.  The Report set out the current deadlines, as set out in Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 and the revised deadlines, as set out in the Accounts and Audit (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020. 

The Report set out the background to the current position.  It was noted that 265 public bodies had not received an auditor opinion by 30th November 2020 and that, according to data from Public Sector Audit Appointments, the number of public bodies that had not received their audit opinion by mid-March was 147.

The Executive Head of Finance reported to the Committee on the current status of the audit and advised that a meeting had been held with EY the previous week to work through some of the issues raised by EY.  It was anticipated that the information required by EY would be available by the middle of April to give EY time to work through any queries and raise these with the Council.  It was, therefore anticipated that the audited Statement of Accounts and the Audit Results Report would be available to be considered by the Committee at the meeting in May 2021.

The Report informed the Committee that deadlines for the completion and publication of the 2020/21 and 2021/22 accounts had been amended as part of the Government’s response to the recommendations of the independent Redmond Review into the effectiveness of external audit and transparency of financial reporting in local authorities.  It was noted that the new regulations, which would come into force on 31st March 2021 would amend the draft and final accounts publication deadlines for relevant bodies from 1st June and 31st July to 1st August and 30th September for the next two accounting years and the position would be reviewed. 

The Committee was advised that the Council had amended its 2020/21 accounts closure process to meet the revised Accounts and Audit Regulation 2021 timetable.  It was felt that the timetable would be challenging as a result of continuing Covid-19 pressures.  In addition, the delay in concluding the 2019/20 audit would mean that the opening balance for 2020/21 would be fluid and that working on two audit years at the same time and having to revisit opening balances would increase the workload for the Council and could potentially further delay the audit process for 2020/21. 

RESOLVED: That the Executive Head of Finance’s Report No. FIN2107, including the updated process and timetable for approval of the 2019/20 Statement of Accounts and receiving the Audit Opinion, be noted.