Agenda item

The Director of Finance will submit the Statement of Accounts for approval.

A report was submitted, which outlined the issues arising from the external audit of the Council’s 2019/20 Statement of Accounts, and requested Audit and Governance Committees approval of the audited accounts prior to their publication, as required by the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015.

The Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 required that the draft accounts be produced and authorised for issue by the Council’s Director of Finance and Customer Service by 21^st May each year.  Following external audit review, the accounts should be approved by members, having considered the issues raised by the auditors in their Audit Findings Report, prior to publication by the 31^st July following the year to which they relate.  Due to the impact of COVID-19, regulations were issued to extend the statutory audit deadlines for 2019/20 for all local authorities.  The impact for the Council was that the publication date for final, audited, accounts was moved from 21^st July to 30^th November 2020.  This meant that draft accounts were to be approved by 31^st August 2020 at the latest.  This would enable the Audit and Governance Committee to review and approve the accounts, having considered the issues raised by the auditors in their Audit Findings Report.

The 2019/20 draft Statement of Accounts were certified by the Director of Finance on 2^nd July 2020, and subsequently published on the Council’s website. The audit of those draft accounts commenced in September 2020 and amendments had been made to the accounts in line with audit findings to date.

The external audit of the accounts was not concluded in time for the accounts to be published by 30^th November, in the main due to the additional time required to complete additional audit work regarding the valuation of the Council’s land and buildings assets. This was the case for numerous local authorities across the country.

In order to comply with the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015, a notice had been published on the Council’s website stating that the statement of accounts could not currently be published, and confirming that the accounts would be published as soon as reasonably practicable after the receipt of a report from the auditor which contains the auditor's final findings from their audit and the issue of their audit opinion.

The Audit Findings Report, used by the Council’s external auditor, Grant Thornton, highlighted the key findings arising from the final accounts audit in order that those charged with Governance may consider the issues prior to their approval of the Statement of Accounts. 

A number of adjustments were made to the Statement of Accounts published on 2^nd July 2020 in order to correct misstatements and misclassifications and to enhance the Narrative Report and disclosure notes.  There was also one unadjusted misstatement included in the Audit Findings Report, in relation to the revaluation of Heritage Assets.  These amounts had not been adjusted in the 2019/20 Statement of Accounts as they were immaterial to the results of the Council and its financial position at 31^st March 2020, although they will be addressed in the 2020/21 accounts. 

RESOLVED – That the Audit and Governance Committee:

1. Note the outcome of the audit of the Council’s financial statements and the Value for Money conclusion as presented by Grant Thornton in their Audit Findings Report for 2019/20 (previous agenda item).
2. Approve the Statement of Accounts for 2019/20.
3. Approve the letter of representation from the Director of Finance and Customer Service to the external auditors for which a draft is provided at Appendix 1, with the final version to be signed by the Director of Finance and Customer Service and the Chair of the Audit and Governance Committee at the date of issue of the audit opinion.