Agenda item

The Committee received a verbal update on the current situation with the Buckinghamshire Council Statement of Accounts 2020/2021. Mr Richard Ambrose, Service Director for Major Projects (former Section 151 Officer) and Mr Iain Murray, Grant Thornton (External Auditors) attended to present the update. Key points raised in discussion included:

·       Significant progress had been made since the last time the Committee met in May, and the Council was now comfortable that the opening position reconciled as expected. Work had been undertaken on bank reconciliations, reclassification of balance sheets, and on grants and external funding and this information had been passed on to the external auditors. Sampling was underway and the Council was confident that appropriate information and evidence was being provided to give assurance to the external auditor.

·       There remained assurance work to be done around in-year changes to income and expenditure accounts and reserve statements and movements. The cash flow would then be finalised at the conclusion when there was agreement that the rest of the statements were satisfactory.

·       The external auditor had been advised that they would receive the final revised accounts in the coming weeks once the Council had completed quality assurance checks.

·       In terms of the national infrastructure assets issue that the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) had completed a consultation on, the Financial Reporting Council had not supported the suggestions put forward, so a solution remained outstanding. This issue affected the circa 50% of local authorities who had not signed off their 2020/21 accounts as well as all 2021/22 accounts. As a result, should all other outstanding work be completed by September, it was unlikely that the 2020/21 accounts could be signed off at the next meeting. Options included statutory override and approval ‘subject to’ certain conditions.

·       Grant Thornton were working through this issue as a firm recognising that there was a balance to strike between the backlog that existed within the sector and signing off clean opinions. Work would be undertaken to assess records the Council held around infrastructure and assets to understand how big an issue it was for Buckinghamshire and whether a move toward resolving was possible, which could be in some form of modification to opinions within the final analysis. The statutory override option required primary legislation which would take a significant period of time given the need to obtain parliamentary approval.

·       A decision would be taken nearer the time of the September meeting of this Committee on the next steps. Were the audit to be substantially completed at that time, infrastructure issues aside, they could be delegated to the Chairman and Section 151 Officer to sign off or be presented as a final version in November. From the external auditor’s perspective, they would like to be as close as possible to a position of sign off in September due to Mr Murray changing job roles.

·       Work on the 2021/22 accounts was progressing well although these accounts could not be published until the 2020/21 audit had been completed. The Committee noted that the sooner the 2020/21 accounts were signed off the sooner the audit work could commence on 2021/22.

·       An update was provided on staffing following a number of changes and the difficulties experienced in recruiting following legacy staff departures. A Chief Accountant role had been advertised for, with shortlisting due to take place imminently. At present, there was an interim in place who would hold the position for at least six months to oversee the 2020/21 and 2021/22 accounts. This was identified as a critical role which it was hoped would be filled as a result of this recruitment exercise.

RESOLVED:

That the Buckinghamshire Council Statement of Accounts 2020/21 update be noted.