Agenda item

Gareth Mills, Director, Grant Thornton introduced the External Auditors progress report, highlighting the progress made on work carried out by External Audit in delivering their responsibilities in auditing the Council’s accounts as at 18th April 2023. The report also provided a summary of emerging national issues and developments of relevance to the Council.

The Director, Grant Thornton highlighted the key headlines in the report. The External Auditor had concluded its work on the financial statements for 2021-22 by the end of early November as planned; with the exception of the national accounting issue relating to infrastructure assets, which had been resolved. The statutory instrument to override on the infrastructure assets was approved on 25th December 2022 and the audit had been concluded on 30th January 2023 issuing a 'clean' unqualified audit opinion on the Council’s financial statements for 2021-22. The Director, Grant Thornton highlighted the achievements by both the Finance team and External Audit to conclude the audit within the deadline.

In relation to the financial statements for the 2022-23 audit, Members were informed that the current national statutory date of 30th September 2023 for sign off, of the audit of accounts 2022/23 was not achievable and it was now anticipated that the date for completion of the accounts would be November. The Director, Grant Thornton spoke of the challenges faced by External Audit in completing public sector audits due to the external audit market being under significant pressure, which had affected the timeliness of issuing the audit opinions across the local authority sector. In addition, the work of the External Auditor has also been impacted by the NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups audits having to be extended to a later date, which had created a significant number of part-year accounts audits to be delivered in 2023, largely by the same auditors and audit firms who deliver local authority audits. He provided assurances that the November completion date was consistent with the External Auditor 2019-20 and 2020-21 opinions, and with the 2021-22 audit work, with the exception of the national infrastructure matter, which had been concluded by the end of January. The Director, Grant Thornton emphasised that the proposed timetable was not a reflection of the Finance Team, or the wider Council, but it was because of the level of Public Sector audit work to be delivered by Grant Thornton across its NHS and local authority client base. He added that the Finance team’s delivery and quality of the audit compared favourably to other local authorities.

In relation to the Council’s Value for Money arrangements, it was anticipated that this was to be concluded by December 2023 and a report submitted to the Audit Committee in January 2024.

Members’ attention were drawn to Grant Thornton’s publication entitled ‘About Time’, which had been circulated to the Finance team and shared with the Audit Committee prior to the meeting. The publication provided an analysis regarding achievement of local authorities sign off, of the accounts covering the last six years. It was reported that the 12% figure quoted regarding local authorities attaining the statutory date for sign off, of the accounts on 30th September 2023 was not achievable and that it was expected that only a small number of local authorities would meet this deadline.

The Chair on behalf of the Committee, thanked the Director of Grant Thornton for his presentation of the report. In acknowledging that the sign off the accounts was not to be achieved by the deadline, the Chair sought assurance that the proposed sign off date of November would be met. It was reported that the ISA 260 was to be presented to the Audit Committee meeting in early November and that the sign off, of the accounts before the end of November.

The Vice-Chair stated that he had spoken to the Assistant Director of Finance and the Head of Internal Audit regarding governance arrangements at the Council, particularly in respect of Cabinet decisions taken under Rule 16 Special Urgency provisions.  In view of Grant Thornton having knowledge of the auditing of the public sector, he asked whether Grant Thornton could assist the Council in obtaining national benchmarking statistics to gauge how Doncaster compared nationally to that of other Local Authorities in terms of decisions being taken under the Special Urgency provisions for comparative purposes. The Assistant Director of Finance advised that Internal Audit was to undertake an initial review of this matter and the outcome would be shared with the Engagement Senior Manager.

The Vice-Chair acknowledged the excellent work undertaken by Grant Thornton and thanked them for their efforts on delivery of the accounts.  The Director of Grant Thornton responded by thanking the Vice-Chair for his comments and said that he would communicate the feedback to the External Auditing team. The Chair echoed the comments made by the Vice-Chair. In commenting positively on the report, the Chair commended the Finance team for their achievements in completing the accounts within the deadline, given the recent and past challenges faced by the team in having to meet the changeable timeframes over recent and previous years to complete the accounts. The Chair in welcoming the positive feedback received from Grant Thornton regarding the quality and timing of the presentation of the accounts by the Finance team asked that the Committee’s thanks be conveyed to staff in the Finance Team for their achievements.

The Director, Grant Thornton reiterated the importance that the delay in the completion of the accounts this year was due to them not being able to deliver the audits by the deadline and was not because of the Council’s Finance team, adding that the Finance team had been proactive and had engaged in dialogue with the External Auditor. The Vice-Chair in noting the national public sector data in the External Auditors report regarding some local authorities deficits in funding for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, was pleased to note that this was not applicable to Doncaster, which demonstrated that on a national level Doncaster was performing well.

The Chair reflected on last year’s report and this year’s report and commented that in view of the challenging timescales to meet the deadline this year, the Committee was assured that the Council’s governance and control arrangements remained strong.

In closing the meeting, the Chair thanked everyone for their attendance.

RESOLVED that Grant Thornton’s Progress report and Sector Update for the Year ending 31st March 2023 be received be noted.