Agenda item

F Jump highlighted that this item needed to be considered in conjunction with the external audit findings report which was the next item on the agenda.

F Jump presented the statement of accounts and advised that followed the end of the external audit process. She explained the production of accounts was a very long piece of work for the finance team and voiced credit to Lexi Schultz and the wider finance team for their roles in producing these accounts. Members of the committee were asked to comment on the final statement of accounts and also approve the letter of representation. The letter is a statement from the Council to our external auditors which sets out the basis upon which we’ve prepared the accounts and it’s a crucial document for external audit to be able to issue their audit opinion. F Jump noted that they had agreed to a few changes to the accounts in conjunction with Grant Thornton; one related to the valuation of surplus assets and the other related to disclosures around our grant funding.

P Cuttle directed members to the headlines of the report and gave a summary of the external audit findings. He welcomed questions from the committee.

Councillor Townsend asked for more information on the outstanding matters relating to infrastructure assets following CIPFA revised guidance.

P Cuttle explained there was a statutory override expected to be passed through parliament which will provide a solution for councils to be able to make an adjustment to the financial statement based on changes to the code of audit practice and that will allow auditors to issue an unqualified opinion. He advised that Dacorum’s infrastructure assets were around £5-6m, materiality around £3m, so based on the current guidance that wouldn’t stop them being able to issue an unqualified audit opinion. He summarised that we were waiting for the guidance which may mean changing the financial statements if the guidance comes out before they finalise the audit but ultimately it wasn’t a big issue for this council.

Councillor Townsend advised he had done some reconciliations between what was being signed off in the accounts versus the final outturn report and also done some spot checks. He asked if there was anything else he should have done to check the accounts. He also asked if there were any changes in accounting treatment.

F Jump replied he had done everything she would expect someone in his position to do which is go through both the statement of accounts document and the final outturn report to make sure they’re consistent. She asked L Schultz to provide a summary on changes in the 2021/22 accounts.

L Schultz advised it had been a fairly light year in terms of accounting changes, partly because of Covid and all the pressure the councils are under. She said they were expecting a change relating to leases but that has been pushed back to 2024/25.

On behalf of the committee Councillor Townsend thanked all those involved in putting together the accounts.

Outcome

The audit committee carried out and agreed the following recommendations:

1.      Review the Statement of Accounts 2021/22 (Appendix A) and raise any matters on which Assurance is sought in order to approve the Statements on behalf of the Council;

2. Subject to consideration of the External Auditor’s Audit Findings Report, approve the Letter of Representation (Appendix B) in the capacity of those charged with Governance and;

3. Subject to above, approve the Statement of Accounts for 2021/22.

4. Delegate to the Chair of the Audit Committee to sign the final accounts upon receiving the final audit opinion subject to no material changes.