The External Auditor (AD) provided the Committee with a verbal update regarding the External Audit Progress report and Sector Update.
The External Auditor confirmed:
· Grant Thornton were unable to issue the audit opinion at the time of the last Committee (20th October 2021) when the report was presented, as the Value for Money (VfM) work was still to be completed. The audit opinion on the 2020-21 financial statements had since been signed off.
· It was expected that the VfM work would be completed by the end of December 2021. The deadline was the end of January 2022.
· The Auditors hoped to present the final report to the Committee in January 2022.
· Although there were challenges to recruiting Auditors nationally they had appointed three experienced audit managers recently. One of which would be assigned to the NDC audit.
RESOLVED that the External Audit Progress Report and Sector Update be noted.