Agenda item

The Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Resources introduced the report and updated the Committee on actions taken since the previous meeting. The revenue and capital outturn reports had been confirmed and supplied to the Government. 

Although the 2022-23 revenue and capital outturn reports had been completed using estimates, the returns for 2020-21 and 2021-22 could not be completed in this way and had to wait until the accounts had been finalised.  The Council was also in discussion with HMRC about the clawback of VAT.

The Deputy Chief Executive reported continuing uncertainty about the proposed backstop date intended to clear the backlog of unaudited accounts in local government. The Committee was updated that local authorities had now been informed of Government proposal to introduce a backstop date of 30th September 2024 for completion of all outstanding local audits up to 2022-23 financial year. Local authorities would be a consulted on the plans to tackle local government audit delays, including on the proposed backstop date, in February 2024.

As reported at the previous meeting of the Committee, officers were using the new software system Tech One for budget forecasting. The approach of ‘no Purchase Order, no pay’ was supporting better financial rigour. The Deputy Chief Executive also reported a successful outcome from current interviews in recruiting to 5 finance posts. 

The Head of Finance and Customer Services reported on discussions with the External Auditors. Although the Council had a set of draft accounts for 2020-21, the auditors would not proceed with the audit until a reconciliation had taken place on balances transferred between the previous and current financial systems. In order to expedite matters the Council had undertaken this validation and identified approximately £146k in the legacy eFin system which was not in the TechOne system. The accounts had been adjusted accordingly and the data sent to the auditors seeking their confirmation that this was acceptable.

It was noted that the accounts for 2020-21 had been reconciled and the variance was at a non-material level. The 2021-22 and 2022-23 financial years would be dealt with subsequently once the situation for the 2020-21 accounts had been confirmed by the External Auditors.

Further to the update, the Chair asked what the implications might be if the September deadline for signing off the 3 sets of accounts was not met. The Deputy Chief Executive reported that the Council was aiming to have draft accounts for the last 3 years available in the summer, even if audit adjustments were included.

The Chair proposed that the Committee that in view of the potential lack of external audit resources, the Committee invite the Executive to consider the implications of having at least one set of unaudited accounts at the end of the financial year. This recommendation was seconded by Councillor Spilsbury.

RECOMMENDED that:

1)    In view of the lack of potential audit resources, the Executive be invited to consider the implications of having at least one set of unaudited accounts at the end of this financial year.