Issue details

Statement of Accounts 2018/19

The minutes of the Executive meeting on 18 July 2019 (Agenda Item: Statement of Accounts 2018/19) noted that:

“..Once all final amendments, agreed with the external auditor, had been implemented and when the external auditor had issued their audit opinion, the Leader of the Council and Chief Finance Officer, in consultation with the Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Finance, be authorised to sign the Statement of Accounts for 2018/19 by the 31 July 2019 statutory deadline*.

Reason for decision: The Code of Practice of Local Government Accounting recommends that the Statement of Accounts should be endorsed by the body within the Council that is responsible for overall corporate governance. Under the Council’s Constitution this function has been delegated to the Executive….”

*NOTE: The reference to the 31st July ‘statutory deadline’ relates to the ‘target’ date as defined in the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015.

Audit Outcome

The audit was concluded and the accounts were published on 30 September 2019; later than originally expected due to delays in obtaining the audit certificate from Deloitte. There are a number of reasons for this delay.

2018/19 was the first audit undertaken within the new contract with Deloitte LLP. This presented new challenges, for example: establishing an effective working relationship and communication channels.

Challenges for Deloitte included working to the new audit specification defined by Public Sector Audit Appointments (PSAA) at a time of nationwide shortfalls in appropriately skilled and experienced public sector auditors.

We understand that Reigate & Banstead’s experience has been very similar to that of authorities across Surrey and beyond. At the time of writing a number of councils have not yet received their audit opinion or published their accounts.

The final version of the auditor report (ISA260) and statement of accounts are being reported to Overview & Scrutiny Committee on 17 October.

Delegated Decision

The Leader and the Chief Finance Officer, in consultation with the Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Finance signed the Statement of Accounts 2018/19 on 30 September 2019. The Statement of Accounts were published on the Councils website on that date.

Decision type: Non-key

Decision status: Recommendations Approved

Notice of proposed decision first published: 17/10/2019

Decision due: 30 Sep 2019 by Interim Head of Finance

Consultation process

The Leader and the Chief Finance Officer, in consultation with the Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Finance have signed the Statement of Accounts 2018/19 under the delegated authority granted at the Executive meeting of 18 July 2019.

Decisions