Issue - meetings

Purpose of Report

To present for information the final Statement of Accounts for the financial year ended 31 March 2023, following substantial completion of the audit opinion.

Decision

That following scrutiny of the statement of accounts for the financial year ended on 31 March 2023, the Statement of Accounts be recommended to Council on 28 November 2023 for approval.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

None.

Reasons for the Decision

The Statement of Accounts for 2022/23 provided a comprehensive picture of the Council’s financial circumstances and had been compiled to demonstrate probity and stewardship of public funds.

The Council was statutorily required to publish its draft Statement of Accounts for 2022/23 by 31 May 2023 with an audit opinion and certificate by no later than 30 September 2023.

The Statement of Accounts for 2022/23 were still subject to verification by External Audit. The audit of the accounts was being finalised by Mazars, who commenced the audit in July 2023. The majority of the audit work had now been completed by Mazars, however, should any changes be necessary as a result of this final external work, these would be reported to the Chair of the Audit Committee with any material changes notified to the Audit Committee.

The Council made the statement of accounts available for public inspection for the required ten working days, between 1 June until 15 June 2023, during which time, the external auditor was available to answer questions, although none were received.

The Audit Completion Report also stated that there were no significant findings or recommendations in relation to internal controls during the completion of the audit work.

The Council was also required to provide a documental annual review of the effectiveness of its governance arrangements (Annual Governance Statement (AGS)), which sat alongside the Statement of Accounts; the overall level of assurance provided in 2022/23 was substantial (green) and was in line with the Council’s Code of Corporate Governance.

Substantial progress had been made against the significant issue in relation to the IT Disaster Recovery Plan, that was included in the previous year’s AGS, to the extent that the issue was no longer a significant governance issue. There were no new significant governance issues that were identified for inclusion in the 2022/23 Statement of Accounts.