Decision details

The Committee considered a report by Grant Thornton regarding the External Audit – Audit Findings report (circulated previously).

The External Auditor confirmed:

·       The post-statements audit began in July 2022 and as of 15^th September 2022 it was substantially complete.

·       This year a hybrid approach was adopted by the auditors with a combination of on site and remote working and the auditor expressed his thanks to the Finance team for agreeing to that approach.

·       The work undertaken to date had not identified any material errors or adjustments to the financial statements.

·       No adjustments had been identified that had resulted in any changes to the Council’s financial statements or financial position.

·       Subject to the completion of the remaining audit pieces of work and receiving responses to outstanding queries and having regard to any national guidance, it was anticipated that an unqualified audit opinion would be issued following the receipt of the letter of assurance from the Devon Pension Fund auditor in October 2022.

·       North Devon Council’s audit was one of the most progressed audits and well ahead of its November 2022 deadline.

·       A significant area identified for testing was the use of internal journal transfers, for which no areas of concern were identified.

·       During testing it was identified by the auditors that monthly bank reconciliations had not been completed for a period of the 2021/22 financial year owing to an issue with the software that was used. Management accepted this recommendation for improvement and advised that staffing and software issues had been the reason for issues within that area but this had now been resolved.

·       The Value for Money assessment was working to a later deadline than normal, with an expected target of December 2022.

·       The details in relation to the fees were set out on pages 196 to 197.

The Chair thanked the Internal Auditor for his report to the Committee. The Committee also expressed their thanks to the Finance team for their continued hard work in the delivery of a good audit.

The Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive advised that the Accountancy Services Manager and the team would ensure that the bank reconciliation issue would be rectified moving forward and that the Council had a good working relationship with Grant Thornton.

In response to a question regarding the Commercialisation Strategy and the increase to the workload to deliver the management of the Green Lanes shopping centre, the Internal Auditor advised that the opinion in the financial statements indicated that things were now very different. Councils were no longer as risk adverse and recognised the requirement to be risk aware when embarking on new projects to generate additional sources of income. He added that North Devon Council were very proactive in their approach to this new way of working.

The Committee thanked the Internal Auditor for his report.

RESOLVED that the External Audit - Audit Findings Report be noted.