Agenda item

Report by Director of Finance

This report sets out the approach taken to the preparation of the 2022/23 Statement of Accounts. It also provides a brief update to the prior years Accounts that remain unaudited

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to note the timing for the 2022/23 Statement of Accounts along with the updates on prior years.

The Chief Accountant, Richard Quayle, presented the report to the Committee. The 2020/21 accounts had been originally delayed as a result of the valuation issue and the delayed further due to the national infrastructure technical query, which now had statutory override, allowed by CIPFA. A further peer review had been completed and the final points were being cleared up to hopefully signing of the 2020/21 accounts by the end of July 2023.

For the 2021/22 accounts, the fieldwork began between January and March 2023. This was then put on hold whilst the NHS work was carried out. The work had now restarted until September, with further sampling and clarification questions coming in with quick turnaround times.

The 2022/23 accounts had been put on hold in order to allow Officers to respond quickly to the questions from auditors at EY on the 2021/22 accounts. The majority of work for the 2022/23 accounts had been completed with only the pension adjustments outstanding. This had been supported by the Director of Finance.

The following points had been raised by the Committee:

·       EY had satisfied themselves on the pension fund review for 2020/21 on the impact of the valuation issues and it was confirmed that this had been resolved.

·       For the Council, a late sign-off of accounts carried a very low risk as the auditors were not querying any specific commercial activity or errors in accounts in the accounts. Concerns were only raised where there were issues.

·       The Director of Finance commented that the Committee needed to support the Officers in their approach and decision making. The Committee supported the approach taken by the Director of Finance and the decisions taken.

·       The Committee were reassured that a new team was now in place to try and get all accounts signed off and then follow the normal cycle of sign off by end of each May.

The Director of Finance informed the Committee about a recent letter that had been sent to all Directors of Finance, Chief Executives, Leaders, and the Local Audit Firm Partners from Minister Rowley, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. A lot of work had been done across government, this included the Financial Reporting Council, CIPFA, the audit firms and the new Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority (ARGA) body, to reach a consensus where all parties agreed. As a result, there was likely to be a backstop date that was put into place for retrospective accounts. Any accounts not signed off by the date would not receive an audit opinion but would get a qualification or partial qualification. The Director of Finance was going to be speaking with the Head of ARGA, in a national role about making sure that there were no unintended consequences of the proposed dates. The aim for the Team would be to not be near the backstop dates and get all the accounts signed off.

ACTION: Circulate the letter from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Resolved; that the Committee noted the timing for the 2022/23 Statement of Accounts along with the updates on the prior years.