Agenda item

Members considered a paper from Grant Thornton that provided an update on delivering their responsibilities as the Council’s External Auditors for the year ending 31st March, 2021 and Sector update. 

Gareth Mills, Engagement Lead and Perminder Sethi, Engagement Senior Manager, Grant Thornton highlighted the key headlines in the report and provided an overview of the planned scope and timing of the statutory audit of the Council to comply with the statutory timescale in relation to:-

·         Key Matters

·         Group Audit Accounts

·         Significant Risks

·         Auditing estimates and related disclosures

·         Other Matters

·         Progress against prior year recommendations

·         Materiality

·         Revised Approach to Value for Money

·         Audit Logistics and Team

·         Audit Fees

·         Independence and non-audit services

Gareth Mills explained that in the current regulatory framework, the threshold for providing quality documentary evidence to support audits was high, as recommended by the Financial Reporting Council. He reported on the challenges for External Auditors in completing the accounts this year. In relation to the External Auditors fee arrangement and the significant uplift in audit fees for Doncaster, it was confirmed that the Public Sector Audit Appointments (PSAA), third party regulatory body had reviewed the fees and the outcome of the Redmond Review had recognised that External Auditors fees had reduced significantly over previous years and that External Auditors work was now more complex.

Members briefly discussed the uplift in External Audit fees for this year and the timeframe for completion of the accounts in future years.  In relation to the £15m funding to be provided by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to support local authorities for the uplift in Auditors fees, Debbie Hogg, Director of Resources pointed out that the funding would not be sufficient to cover the increase in External Audit fees and would place further financial pressures on the Council. Whilst acknowledging the External Auditors reasons for the delay to the timetable for completion of this year’s accounts due to completion of NHS audits and the problems with recruiting and retaining Public Sector staff, the Director of Resources spoke of the challenges faced by the Finance Team in managing the cycle of budget activities in relation to the accounts, with the same level of resources, and explained how the timing of External Audit’s work impacted upon the work of the Finance Team.

Faye Tyas, Assistant Director of Finance provided an update on actions in relation to the audit. It was reported that the recent training to Audit Committee Members on the evaluation techniques in respect of risk estimates had now been completed.  With reference to Section 7 of the report regarding progress made against prior year audit recommendations in respect of the un-actioned recommendation in relation to the assessment of Economic lives, Infrastructure assets, this was currently being reviewed and an update would be provided to External Audit. With regard to the Value for Money assessment, a response would be provided to the External Auditor next week.

To conclude, the Chair thanked Gareth Mills and Perminder Sethi for their report and attendance at the meeting.

PROPOSED: that the External Auditor’s progress report and sector update be noted.