Issue - meetings

The Committee received a verbal report from the External Auditor:

       i.          Referred to the letter sent to Head of Finance.

     ii.          Ernst & Young were unable to start the audit on time as agreed with the Head of Finance.

   iii.          The pace of the audit (obtaining information) was affected by:

a.    Change in ledger.

b.    Changes in personnel.

   iv.          The audit was in progress. Information for clarification purposes was being sought over the next three to four weeks, so a conclusion should be reached soon.

The Head of Finance said:

       i.          Thanked Interim Deputy Head of Finance for staying on to see out the audit process.

     ii.          Officers were trying to complete the audit as soon as possible.

   iii.          It was difficult to submit information to Ernst & Young through their portal.

   iv.          Introduced Jody Etherington as the replacement to Interim Deputy Head of Finance (Ken Trotter). Jody would take over from Ken in future.

    v.          A candidate had been identified for one accounting post, but another post was still vacant.

The Committee made the following comments in response to the report:

       i.          Expressed concern the audit had not been completed.

     ii.          Queried when the audit would be completed.

   iii.          Observed the City Council was not the only local authority awaiting audit sign-off by Ernst & Young. Queried how the situation could be resolved (now) and avoided in future.

The External Auditor said the following in response to Members’ questions:

       i.          The 2018/19 audit had not been signed off as Ernst & Young required some further information. They acknowledged there were some issues when submitting details through their portal.

     ii.          Ernst & Young hoped to avoid issues re-occurring in future. Referred to comments made at 24 July 2019 Civic Affairs. Ernst & Young hoped to recruit further staff by January 2020, so they would be at full capacity prior to starting the 2019/20 audit (having first cleared any backlog).

   iii.          Public Sector Audit Appointments Limited undertook contract monitoring to ensure that Ernst & Young delivered against contractual obligations.

The Interim Deputy Head of Finance said the following in response to Members’ questions:

       i.          A “lessons learnt” file was being built for next year to pass onto new officers to ensure continuity of knowledge.

     ii.          The 2018/19 audit had been delayed because:

a.    The finance regime had changed so old format papers were no longer valid. This delayed submission.

b.    There was a lack of discussion between the City Council and Ernst & Young before the audit started due to a lack of staff capacity and loss of several experienced City Council staff.

   iii.          The same issues should not arise in 2019/20.

Councillor Thornburrow noted the next Civic Affairs meeting was 29 January 2020 and asked how the audit would be signed off if completed circa October 2019. The Chair said a special Civic Affairs meeting would be timetabled.

Unanimously resolved to note the presentation.