When you're able to look at and ask questions about our accounts
The Government Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) have acknowledged a number of complex issues that have caused a backlog in the publication and audit of local authority accounts across England. DLUHC are liaising with key partners across the local audit system to focus and prioritise resources on solutions and enable Local Authority accounts and audits to be brought back up to date during 2024.
The following provides details of the status for the Borough Council’s Statement of Accounts which are outstanding.
Inspection of accounts year ended 31 March 2023
Under Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015, Regulations 14 & 15 and the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 we are required to publish our pre-audited draft accounts by the 31 May 2023.
We are not yet able to publish our draft accounts for 2022/2023. This is due to ongoing operational and resourcing matters faced by the council alongside resource capacity constraints on the part of the Council’s External Auditors (EY LLP) as a consequence of responding to significant delays in the audit of prior year accounts.
This has impacted on the completion of the audit of the Statement of Accounts for the year 2019/20, the final audited version of which was published on 1 February 2024.
Additional work has been necessary during 2023 to support the auditors with the completion of the 2019/20 accounts and has subsequently contributed to a delay in the production of the 2022/23 draft Statement of Accounts in accordance with the published deadlines.
It has been agreed with the external auditors that resources are phased towards the audit of each set of accounts focusing on the most overdue first, for the accounting periods outlined below. This is expected to reduce the cumulative impact on resources of completing accounting statements in the absence of audited accounts from prior periods.
We are required to make the draft accounts and relevant supporting documentation available for inspection by the general public as set out in the amended regulations.
Given that the draft accounts were not published on the due date of 31 May 2023, the statutory inspection period is also delayed.
We will make available the accounts and supporting documentation from the first working day following the date of publication of those draft accounts. The draft accounts will be published as soon as reasonably practicable.
Audit of accounts year ended 31 March 2023
The external audit of the draft statement of accounts for the year ended 31 March 2023 has not yet been completed by our external auditors, EY LLP, due to the complex set of factors contributing to audit delays across the sector.
This situation is allowed for by Regulation 10, paragraph (2a) of the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015.
Therefore, this notification explains, as per paragraph (2a), that we are not yet able to publish our audited 2022/23 final statement of accounts in line with deadline of 30 September 2023, as per paragraph (1).
The Audit Committee will consider the results of the 2022/23 audit, after which we will publish the final audited accounts.
Audit of accounts year ended 31 March 2022
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.
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 1 August 2022 (in accordance with The Accounts and Audit (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020).
This was due to 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. . The pre-audited financial statements were subsequently published on 1 August 2022. You can find these on our final accounts page.
Following the conclusion of the audit of the 2019/20 statement of accounts in January 2024, further amendments may be required to the pre-audited financial statements 2021/22.
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 2021/22 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 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 in January 2024, 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.