Issue - meetings

Report of the Director – Finance and Corporate Services.

Mr Hoose from Mazars, the Council’s External Auditors presented the Audit Completion Report and Management Representation Letter and reports to those charged with Governance the key conclusions in the audit process for 2021/22 and comments upon the Statement of Accounts and their quality.

Mr Hoose advised the Group that the audit was almost complete and that they were not aware of any matters that would require modification of their audit opinion. In respect of significant findings and the Council’s judgement and risk there were no issues identified that need to be brought to the attention of members.

Mr Hoose advised the Group that management were advised of a matter brought to their attention by Nottinghamshire Pension Fund auditors in respect of the Council’s pension scheme assets, and advised members that management had chosen not to amend the accounts on the grounds of a materiality.

It was noted that the external auditors were yet to complete work in respect of the Council’s arrangements and Value for Money for the year ended 31 March 2021, but at the time of preparing this report the auditors had not identified any significant weakness in the Council’s arrangements.

The Chairman questioned why 90% of local authorities failed to meet the deadlines and what were the other 10% doing in order to achieve this. Mr Hoose explained that the deadline does not affect the audit process and reminded members of the Redman review that focuses on audit quality not deadlines.

The Chairman also asked why there had been a significant increase in the audit fees. Mr Hoose explained that there had been some increases in the amount audit work, particularly around the Going Concern and property valuations and the drive for audit quality. The Director – Finance and Corporate Services added that it had been a challenging year with the increase in standard of audit and the pressures faced by the Council in respect of Covid and staff resources.

Members were reminded that a more detailed report on Value for Money, which will address some of the issues tailored to Rushcliffe will be reported at the Governance Scrutiny Group meeting in February 2022. 

It was RESOLVED that the Governance Scrutiny Group approve:

a)    The findings of Mazars Audit Completion Report

b)    The Management Representation Letter