The External Auditor will present Document “S” which summarises the findings from the audit of the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council for the year ended 31 March 2021.

Recommended-

That the Committee is asked to:

·         note the contents of the Audit Completion Report prior to approving the Statement of Accounts and

·         approve the letter of representations requested at Appendix A.

(Mark Outterside –  07824 086 593)

Resolved-

That the Committee:

·         noted the contents of the Audit Completion Report prior to approving the Statement of Accounts and

·         approved the letter of representations requested at Appendix A.

(Mark Outterside –  07824 086 593)

The External Auditor presented Document “S” which summarised the findings from the audit of the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council for the year ended 31 March 2021.

The External Auditor reported that subject to the satisfactory completion of the outstanding work, and based on the areas of completed work to date, the Auditors anticipated issuing an unqualified opinion on the Council’s Statement of Accounts.

Members were informed that the WYPF Audit Completion Report was largely complete. It would be signed off  when the Bradford Audit Completion report was signed off and some remaining issues addressed. Any amendments and disclosures would be included in an Audit Letter due to be issued on the 30 November 2021, when the Accounts were due to be signed off.

It was reported that subject to the satisfactory conclusion of the remaining audit work the Auditors:

·         Anticipated issuing an unqualified opinion, without modification, on the financial statements.

·         Anticipated having no significant weaknesses in arrangements to report in relation to the arrangements that the Council had in place to secure economy, efficiency and effectiveness in its use of resources.

·         The Auditors had not yet received instructions from the National Audit Office in respect of the work on the Council’s Whole Government Accounts submission – work was unable to commence in this area until such instructions had been received.

·         The 2014 Act requires an elector, or any representative of the elector, to be given the opportunity to question the Auditors about the accounting records of the Council and to consider any objections made to the accounts – no objections or questions from local electors had been received.

It was reported that all outstanding matters in Section 2 of the report had now been completed apart from the IT General Controls; work on significant findings was also complete.

Clarification was sought on the impact of Covid relating to the valuation of land and buildings.  It was reported that the main impact had occurred in 2020, with less volatility in 2021.

Resolved-

That the Committee:

·         noted the contents of the Audit Completion Report prior to approving the Statement of Accounts and

·         approved the letter of representations requested at Appendix A.