Statement of accounts

The Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 require the Council to publish its audited accounts and opinion by 30 November 2022. The audit of the draft statement of accounts for the year ended 31 March 2022 for the Council has not yet been completed by the external auditors, Grant Thornton UK LLP.

The delay has arisen due to a combination of factors:

• Awaiting national clarification regarding the treatment of infrastructure asset derecognition.
• Ongoing work in relation to the valuation of specialised assets held at depreciated replacement cost in the Council’s balance sheet.

This has been reported to the Audit & Risk Committee on 22 November 2022 and the Council is continuing to work closely with the audit team to complete this work.

Once the audit is concluded and the Auditor issues their final findings report, the Council will then publish a final set of accounts as soon as reasonably practicable.

Dated: 30 November 2022

Please note that Regulation 16(1) of The Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 requires the Council to publish (which must include publication on its website) a statement:

• that the audit has been concluded
• that the statement of accounts has been published
• of the rights of inspection conferred in local government electors by section 25 of the Act and the address at which, and the hours during which, those rights may be exercised.

At this stage whilst the financial statements audit and the VFM work are concluded, the Auditor cannot complete their work due to awaiting national clarification regarding the treatment of infrastructure asset derecognition. The council cannot therefore issue this statement.

The notice of conclusion of the audit will be added to the website alongside the audit certificate as soon as this is issued. The final set of audited accounts can be found below.