The Director of Finance and IT will submit Document “I” which reports on the Statement of Accounts - a statutory report upon the financial affairs and accounts of the authority. The report provides an update on the production and audit of the Statement of Accounts for 2020/21.

Recommended -

That the Committee:

a)    Notes the report.

b)   Notes the challenges in meeting statutory deadlines.

c)    Notes the change to the Council’s accounting policy regarding the treatment of Accruals of Income and Expenditure. The policy will be amended to disclose a de-minimus level for accruals set at £1,000 for 2020/21, as values beneath this are not considered to be material to the Councils financial affairs.

(Chris Chapman – 01274 433656)

Resolved -

That the Committee:

(a)          Notes the report.

(b)          Notes the challenges in meeting statutory deadlines.

(c)          Notes the change to the Council’s accounting policy

           regarding the treatment of Accruals of Income and

           Expenditure. The policy will be amended to disclose a de-

           minimus level for accruals set at £1,000 for 2020/21, as

           values beneath this are not considered to be material to

           the Councils financial affairs.

                                                         (Chris Chapman – 01274 433656)

The Director of Finance and IT submitted Document “I” which reported on the Statement of Accounts - a statutory report upon the financial affairs and accounts of the authority. The report provides an update on the production and audit of the Statement of Accounts for 2020/21.

It was reported that there were a number of challenges in delivering the Statement of Accounts this year which included:

·         The prompt departure of the former Head of Financial Accounting leading to a loss of historical knowledge and technical expertise.

·         Covid & working from home remained a challenge, for the internal finance team, and for the External Auditors

·         There were challenges for both the Council and External Auditors in meeting deadlines. To assist the process a number of statements and working papers could be provided to the auditors in advance of 31 July 2021.

·         However, achieving the statutory deadline, and maintaining the quality and accuracy of all statements remained challenging.

·         In context the National Audit Office reported:

only 57% of authorities published their 2018/19 audited accounts by the statutory deadline

only 45% of authorities published their 2019/20 audited accounts by the statutory deadline

·         Publication of the accounts was likely to be two weeks later than the deadline for publication but it was more important that they were accurate than publishing accounts early which were not accurate.

Members were informed that following a recommendation by Mazars in the 2019/20 audit a minor change was proposed to the Council’s accounting policies to be applied to the 2020/21 accounts and subsequent accounts, regarding the treatment of Accruals of Income and Expenditure. The policy would be amended to disclose a de-minimus level for accruals set at £1,000 for 2020/21., as values beneath this were not considered to be material to the Councils financial affairs.

In response to Members questions it was reported that all the Covid grant monies received for Council services would be spent by the appropriate time and that schools converting to academies would have an impact on the assets the Council owned.

Resolved -

That the Committee:

(a)          Notes the report.

(b)          Notes the challenges in meeting statutory deadlines.

(c)          Notes the change to the Council’s accounting policy

           regarding the treatment of Accruals of Income and

           Expenditure. The policy will be amended to disclose a de-

           minimus level for accruals set at £1,000 for 2020/21, as

           values beneath this are not considered to be material to

           the Councils financial affairs.

Action:  Finance and IT Director