Agenda item

Report to follow.

The Committee received the final Statement of Accounts and Audit Report for 2024-25. The Chair noted that late amendments had been issued earlier in the day but emphasised that the changes did not affect the overall financial position. The Interim Deputy Chief Finance Officer, Altin Bozhani, highlighted the key elements of the accounts, including:

• That External auditors had issued a disclaimed opinion due to limitations in verifying opening balances following several years without audit;
• A net revenue underspend of £455k was transferred to the General Fund;
• There had been strong collection rates for Council Tax at 97.4% and Business Rates at 97.9%;
• Commercial income had made a contribution of £9.1m, with occupancy levels at approximately 91%;
• Capital programme expenditure was £33.1m, including completion of the Eclipse leisure centre;
• There had been movements in the balance sheet, including an increase in net liabilities and reductions in reserves due to the £50m regeneration scheme write?off.

The Interim Chief Executive and S151 Officer, Terry Collier, provided further clarification on the accounts. He noted that the 2024/25 Statement of Accounts had been prepared under the previous Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) policy, and reminded the Committee that a new MRP policy was approved in November 2025. He highlighted that this change would represent a significant shift in accounting treatment and would impact the preparation of the 2025/26 accounts, discussions on which were already underway with Grant Thornton and other stakeholders. He welcomed the work planned ahead of the new financial year to support a timely and well?managed accounts closure process, noting that the timetable would be challenging for both the external auditors and the finance team. He added that the Committee had previously considered and approved the Audit Findings Report, the Value for Money Report and the Annual Governance Statement. The Annual Governance Statement included in the Statement of Accounts which had been signed by the Leader and the Interim Chief Executive in line with requirements. The remaining document requiring signature was the Letter of Representation, which the Chair and Interim Chief Executive would sign as part of the meeting’s decisions.

Members of the Committee raised serious concerns regarding the late publication of papers, which some felt significantly limited their ability to scrutinise the accounts effectively. They were also unhappy that amendments issued on the day of the meeting were shared without a clear summary of changes.

Councillor Howkins asked for it to be noted in the minutes that she would not be voting to approve the accounts due to the late circulation of the papers, late amendments and requested a recorded vote.

The Committee’s concerns regarding the late circulation of papers were noted. Members also recognised the substantial effort by the finance team and auditors in finalising the accounts. Officers advised that a written summary of the amendments made would be provided to members after the meeting.

Committee members also sought clarification on the size of certain audit adjustments and queried inconsistencies previously identified in the reserves figures. Officers advised that the inconsistencies were presentational only and had been corrected in the final version.

The external auditor, Joanne Brown, advised the Committee that a disclaimed opinion had been issued on the accounts. Grant Thornton explained that the Audit Findings Report set out the work completed, the balances the auditors were able to conclude on, and the audit adjustments identified. External audit had worked with the finance team to agree which adjustments should be made and which should remain unadjusted, and these were captured in the Audit Findings Report. All adjustments the auditors expected to be reflected in the final accounts had been incorporated.

The auditor noted that, given the Council had not been subject to audit for approximately five years, a higher number of adjustments was expected, comparable to other bodies in similar circumstances. As the finance team further strengthens its working papers, evidence collation and overall quality of draft accounts, the volume of adjustments should reduce in future years. It was confirmed that from an external audit assurance perspective, the accounts presented to the Committee included all required changes.

The Committee discussed at length the balance between meeting statutory deadlines and ensuring members had adequate time to review the accounts. Some members expressed the view that approving the accounts was necessary to support ongoing improvement work, while others felt they could not support approval given the timescales and volume of information they had been asked to review. It was debated whether their role was to understand the detail of the account or be assured that the proper processes had been followed finalising them. Members asked that their significant concerns about approving the accounts within the tight statutory timescales were formally recorded.

Officers clarified that the Committee was the sole approving body and that non?approval would necessitate arranging a further meeting within statutory deadlines or if they remained unapproved then this would initiate further government intervention.

Grant Thornton reiterated that they were signing their disclaimed opinion as changes within the accounts were correct and the changes made were as they had expected in this version.

The Committee considered the following motion:

1. To approve the Statement of Accounts for 2024/25 and the Letter of Representation.
2. To accept the external auditors’ report and disclaimer opinion.

A recorded vote had been requested for this item.

 RESOLVED: That the motion be carried.