Issue - meetings

Debbie Hanson [KM1] from Ernst Young LLP introduced the report, reminding the Committee that the provisional report was produced and presented in April 2022. She referred back on several errors which had been identified, which the auditors and the Finance Department had constructively worked on to resolve. 

Debbie Hanson said that she recognised the pressures which the Finance Department had been under. She said that she hoped that the Committee would approve the accounts, for which she would then undertake final checks and be in a position to issue an unqualified opinion and conclusion.  

The Chairman asked how the pandemic had affected audits in terms of the time spent by auditors on site in offices and with regards to audit fees.

Debbie Hanson said that pre pandemic all audits were completed on site, but that for 2020 these were wholly undertaken remotely using remote technology. She said that although this had worked well, there was no substitute for people being in the same room. She said that extra observational work had been required with remote working to ensure competency and accuracy which was reflected in the fees relating to covid. 

The Chairman said that the understood the difficulties which the Finance Team had been working under and extended his thanks to them.  

Debbie Hanson drew Members’ attention to the Executive Summary which started at page 14 of the report. She said that changes to the plan had been identified relating to Covid, that the risk around the Minimum Income Provision had been removed and that no risks had been identified around value for money.

Debbie Hanson referred to page 17 of the report which highlighted key risks, findings and conclusions and gave Members an overview of these. 

Debbie Hanson referred to page 18 of the report and said that the Business Rates error which was identified was a specialist’s calculation error had been corrected in the council’s financial statements. She said that the error which was identified in the group cash flow statement had also been corrected by management. She said that no issues had been identified in relation to grant income associated with Covid-19.

Debbie Hanson referred to page 34 of the report which detailed audit differences and gave Members an overview of these. She said that a number of these differences were outside of the council’s control, but some were classification errors, with the biggest error relating to PPE.

The Business Finance Partner said that the procedure relating to PPE was correct, it was the presentation which was incorrect. Debbie Hanson confirmed that this had no effect on the council’s balance sheet. 

Debbie Hanson drew Members’ attention to page 35 of the report, which detailed a national issue which was identified in early 2022 in relation to accounting for infrastructure assets. She said that this issue effected all local authorities and a statutory override had been applied to enable the reporting of such assets on a net book basis until 2024/25.

The Chairman asked why the override was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5