·         The external auditors would be visiting North Devon Council in the next month as part of the interim audit

·         Last year had been the hardest year experienced in terms of meeting obligations due to changes in regulations and staff losses

·         The draft accounts were due to be received in May

·         The final accounts were due to be audited in July but the auditors were in dialogue with the Council early as this deadline was not going to be achieved by Grant Thornton

·         Grant Thornton would be providing narrative explaining reasons for the late submission of the final audit

·         The recent Brydon review related to all auditors and calls for a review of the auditing process something which Grant Thornton supported

·         The Minister for Housing, Communities and Local Government had last July announced that a review of public sector audits was to be undertaken to determine whether current audit arrangements were “fit for purpose”

·         The detail and size of accounts was growing and this led to the lay person not engaging or reading documents as a 300 plus page document on some councils accounts was off putting