External Audit Update
To provide a verbal update on the current position of the final accounts
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Laura Rodgers from Deloitte presented a verbal update on the current position of the signing off of the Council’s accounts for the years 2019/20 and 2020/21.
Neither of the accounts were ready to be signed off. The delay to 2020/21 sign off was due to the delay in the finalising of the Council’s outturn report. The delay to the 2019/20 sign off had been caused by an error in the level of aggregation used which had been difficult to remedy. The issue was almost fixed and it was anticipated that there would be a short time to completion once fully resolved. A rough estimate of 120 working hours was suggested as a possible time frame until completion. Deloitte regretted the position with the 2019/20 sign off and stated that the accounts would not be signed off until all issues had been resolved and checked. The audit process for 2020/21 was in a much better position and has been a process as a result of the lessons learnt from the previous year’s audit.
It was confirmed that the regulatory deadlines for both 2019/20 and 2020/21 has been missed but it was believed that there were no sanctions imposed on the Council for not signing the accounts in time. It was noted that the auditing of Councils was a national issue and there were issues across the sector.
Councillor Langton proposed a recommendation which was seconded by Councillor O’Driscoll. Upon being put to the vote this was agreed.
Following the recommendation, Deloitte informed the Committee that, on the issue of costs, there was likely to be an overrun for 2019/20 on the original costings and that negotiations would be entered into with the Chief Finance Officer regarding this. This had already been agreed with Mr Ben Sheriff and minuted. However, Deloitte would be mindful of their actions that resulted in the overrun and take their share of the responsibility.
Councillor Langton requested that the CFO scrutinise any invoice received from Deloitte and proposed a further recommendation that the outcome of this be referred back to the Committee. The recommendation was seconded by Councillor O’Driscoll. Upon being put to the vote the recommendation was agreed.
R E S O L V E D – that:
· The Committee requests further details from Deloitte on:
i. the overall reason for the 19/20 accounts sign off delay;
ii. what principal actions are needed to complete sign off; and
iii. a forecast sign off date.
· Once the proposed division of costs has been made, the findings be brought back to the Audit & Scrutiny Committee to approve.