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Audit of accounts year ended 31 March 2022
Publication of Unaudited Financial Statements
Under Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015, Regulations 14 & 15 and the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 Regulations 26, 27 & 28 as amended by: The Accounts and Audit (Amendment) Regulations 2021 and the Accounts and Audit (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020, the Council are required to publish its pre-audited draft accounts by the 31 July 2022.
We have faced ongoing operational and resourcing matters as a consequence of responding to the delays in the audit of prior year accounts, itself triggered by the Council’s supporting response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This has resulted in a delay in producing the draft accounts in accordance with the published deadlines and we were delayed by one day and published on 1 August 2022. You can find these on our final accounts page.
The external audit of the draft statement of accounts for the year ended 31 March 2022 has not yet been completed by our external auditors, EY LLP, due to the planned phased approach to delivering the 2021/22 audits in light of a variety of complex factors contributing to audit delays in previous years. This situation is allowed for by Regulation 10, paragraph (2a) of the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015. (See attached link: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/234/regulation/10/made)
Therefore, this notification explains, as per paragraph (2a), that we are not yet able to publish our audited 2021/22 final statement of accounts in line with deadline of 30th November 2022, as per paragraph (1). The Audit Committee will consider the results of the 2021/22 audit at its meeting on 17 April 2023, after which we will publish the final audited accounts.
Audit of accounts year ended 31 March 2021
The external audit of the draft statement of accounts for the year ended 31 March 2021 has not yet been completed by our external auditors, EY LLP. This situation is allowed for by Regulation 10, paragraph (2a) of the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015.
We did not publish our pre-audited statement of accounts by the 31 August 2021 (in accordance with The Accounts and Audit (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020). This was due to operational and resourcing matters following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The pre-audited financial statements were subsequently published on 5 November 2021. Following the conclusion of the audit of the 2019/20 statement of accounts expected in 2023, further amendments may be required to the pre-audited financial statements 2020/21.
As a consequence of this delay, it has been necessary to reschedule the external audit in accordance with EY’s available resources. Therefore, this notification explains, as per paragraph (2a), that we are not yet able to publish our audited 2020/21 final statement of accounts. These will be published as soon as reasonably practicable after the receipt of any report from the auditor which contains the auditor’s final findings from the audit which is issued before the conclusion of the audit.
Audit of accounts year ended 31 March 2020
The external audit of the draft statement of accounts for the year ended 31 March 2020 has not yet been completed by our external auditors, EY LLP. This situation is allowed for by Regulation 10, paragraph (2a) of the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015.
We did not publish our pre-audited statement of accounts by the 31 August 2020 (in accordance with The Accounts and Audit (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020). This was due to operational and resourcing matters following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The pre-audited financial statements were subsequently published on 16 October 2020. Following the conclusion of the audit of the 2018/19 statement of accounts in January 2021, further amendments were required to the pre-audited financial statements 2019/20 which were then published on 22 June 2021.
As a consequence of this delay, it has been necessary to reschedule the external audit in accordance with EY’s available resources. Therefore, this notification explains, as per paragraph (2a), that we are not yet able to publish our audited 2019/20 final statement of accounts. These will be published as soon as reasonably practicable after the receipt of any report from the auditor which contains the auditor’s final findings from the audit which is issued before the conclusion of the audit.