Agenda item

Members received an update report from the Engagement Lead for Grant Thornton on progress in delivering their responsibilities as the Council’s external auditors.     

The Engagement Lead for Grant Thornton drew Members’ attention to the progress at 9^th November 2020, and in doing so stated that officers were totally committed to getting the audit completed.  However, currently they were not in a position whereby they could commission that audit opinion.  Members were asked to note that, officers had had to reprofile various projects, but additional resources were being made available. 

In order to meet legal requirements, officers were required to place a notice as such on the Council’s website that the audit was still ongoing, once the audits were completed, the notice would be replaced with the Council’s financial statements.

Members’ attention was further drawn to the following:

·         The total additional audit fees that could be around £20,000. These additional fees would be discussed with Members, the Chief Executive, the Acting Director of Resources; with any additional agreed fees also needing approval from the Public Sector Audit Appointment (PSAA).

·         The Value for Money Conclusion would be reported to the next meeting of the Committee and ‘Other Areas, which included certifying the Council’s Housing Benefit Subsidy claim.

·         The Outcome of The Redmond Review.

In response to Members, the Engagement Lead for Grant Thornton stated that Covid-19 had absolutely had an impact and had presented challenges to both themselves and the Finance team and the responsibilities they had.

Members were informed by the Head of Finance and Customer Services that officers had historically struggled to get some of the required documents readily available because of having to rely on multiple and archaic systems.  The new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system would provide the required documents more easily and readily and officers would then be in a position to use the new ERP system to generate detailed documents for future audits.

In response to Members, the Head of Finance and Customer Services explained that he was anticipating that the new ERP system would go live by the end of January 2021. There had been some delays for additional testing, but officers were hoping that the core system would be ready to go live at the end of January 2021 and then embedded into the service area.   

The Engagement Lead for Grant Thornton further commented that lessons had been learnt with regards to remote working and that regular communication was important.  The Chief Executive also added that staff had received extensive support around remote working.   

The Head of Finance and Customer Service further commented that the audit timescale being extended was not ideal, however, the Chief Executive had been very supportive and had dedicated additional resources into the Finance department and officers were anticipating that everything would be completed by January 2021.

The Chief Executive took the opportunity to thank the Engagement Lead for Grant Thornton and his team for the work carried out with the Finance team.  Additional support had been provided to the finance team, but it was a national problem.  However, officers still wanted to complete things as quickly as possible.

The Chief Executive, the Head of Finance and Customer Service and the Engagement Lead for Grant Thornton reassured Members that everyone was working closely towards January 2021, and officers were confident.  However, should this date not be met, Members would be kept fully informed.

Members took the opportunity to thank all officers for their hard work.

RESOLVED that

the report be noted.