Issue - meetings

Report of the Director – Finance and Corporate Services

Ms Vance from Forvis Mazars the Council’s External Auditors presented the Audit Completion report at Appendix A and the Management Representation Letter at Appendix B, and advised the Group that Forvis Mazars had substantially completed the audit in respect of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024 along with their draft Annual Audit Report and Value for Money conclusion.

Ms Vance advised that the matters that remained outstanding relating to Property, Plant and Equipment and Financial Instruments disclosures have been completed, the matter relating to Pensions is still outstanding with Nottinghamshire County Council but will not require modification of the Audit.

Ms Vance advised the Group that the Council’s accounting policies and disclosures comply with the CIPFA Code of Practise, however the 2023/24 draft financial statements presented for audit had contained a number of accounting policies and accounting disclosures that could still be considered to be unmaterial and it was recommended that for 2024/25 the Council should review its accounting policies to ensure any adjustments are transparently considered.

Ms Vance advised the audit had not encountered any significant difficulties and there had been full co-operation from officers and management. With regards to the summary of misstatements and adjustments it was noted that all but one had been corrected. The unadjusted misstatement related to a contract payment that covered two partial years and whilst the extrapolated error was £164k, the actual error was only £6k and this was not adjusted due to immateriality.

It was RESOLVED that the Governance Scrutiny Group:

a)    Approve the findings of Forvis Mazars Audit Completion Report (Appendix A)

b)    Approve the Management Representation Letter (Appendix B)