Dan Kirwan, Assistant Director Finance and Investment introduced the report of the Director of Finance and Investment (S151) in response to a request from the Audit & Risk Management Committee to provide assurance on planned improvements to the annual Closedown Process. The report informed that the improvements were designed to achieve submission of the Annual Statement of Accounts to the Committee - for final approval - in advance of the target publication date of 31 July.

The report informed that current Closedown Process accounted for a significant proportion of finance resource time and effort in any given year - with activity spanning an intensive period of at least six months, from February to July each year. Members noted that the intensity of this activity had heightened in 2017/18 when the deadline for finalisation of the accounts had been brought forward from 30 September to 31 July.  This mandatory change had been made despite warnings issued by the Local Government Association (LGA) about curtailing the timetable, in the context of reducing funding and pressures on front-line services. The report further informed that recent statistics published by the Public Sector Audit Appointments Limited (PSAA) confirmed that 40% of Local Authority audits had not been concluded by the target date of 31 July.  In response to this, the LGA had made a request for the deadline of 30 September to be restored.

With the assent of the Committee, the Chair gave encouragement to Officers to investigate the option to purchase Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Closedown Software, to enable greater automation of the Closedown Process and Statement of Accounts production and other anticipated improvements.

The Chair questioned whether the External Auditor had been consulted on the proposals. Robin Baker, External Auditor – Grant Thornton LLP advised Members that this was the case.

Resolved - That

1)  the report be noted; and

2)  the Director of Finance and Investment (S151) be instructed to:

a.  Investigate the option to purchase Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Closedown Software, to enable greater automation of the Closedown Process and Statement of Accounts production; and

b.  Initiate a joint workshop with Grant Thornton LLP, the Council’s external auditors, on audit planning improvements for the year ending 31 March 2020.