Agenda item

To consider the report.

Approve the Statement of Accounts as attached in Appendix 1 for Somerset County Council for 2022/23, or delegates approval for the accounts to the Executive Director of Resources and Corporate Services in conjunction with the Chair or Vice-Chair, once any outstanding matters have been resolved.

Approve the updated Annual Governance Statement as included within the Statement of Accounts.

Notes the matters raised and findings in Grant Thornton’s Audit Findings Report in Appendix 2.

Approve the signing of the letter of representation on behalf of the Council and Somerset Pension Fund, as per Appendix 3 and 4.

Notes the position of the External Auditors assessment of the Authority’s Value for Money (VFM) judgment.

Reasons for recommendations

As advised in the summary this is a statutory requirement to publish the audited Statement of Accounts.

Links to Council Plan and

The Audit Committee received the External Audit Findings Report for Somerset County Council 2022/23.

The Director and PSA Head of Audit Quality - Regulation, Audit Grant Thornton UK LLP,  Barrie Morris, highlighted; the audit findings report for Somerset County Council; an update on  the items that were outstanding in relation to the receipt and testing of completeness and receipt and testing of grant income; the completed  testing of the completeness of income and expenditure and the identification of some errors in relation to the completeness of expenditure, to be updated in the final report for information and confirmed that the accounts can be approved without amendment;  Appendix 2 - matters experienced by the auditors whilst undertaking the audit causing delays and the need for issues to be raised with management; commended the work of the finance team that reflects a significant degree of hard work and support by the finance officers, in particular the Interim Chief Accountant, Paul Griffin; a number of audit adjustments and the provision of an unmodified auditor opinion on the financial statements, assuming that the letter of representation is approved and receipt of the final signed version of the accounts.

The Interim Chief Accountant further added to the above points regarding Agenda item 9, Appendix 1 that the report presented was not the final audited set of accounts, as there was a last minute audit adjustment identified after the paper deadline for the final reports, the Officer confirmed the late adjustment was an income re-classification issue that did not impact on the overall level of income being reported. Due to the immaterial nature of the adjustment, and recommended that the accounts (Appendix 1) could be approved as the only change to the accounts being presented at the Committee meeting was a minor disclosure restatement.

The Audit Committee asked a number of questions and made a number of comments which were responded to at the meeting, as follows:

•        Annual Governance Statement and the look forward to improving the controls to mitigate the risks efficiently.

•        Sought assurance that management were looking to mitigate and prevent reoccurrence of delay / engagement issues – The Service Director Finance and Procurement, Nicola Hix, and the Interim Chief Accountant, Paul Griffin, provided assurance to the Audit Committee that action had been taken, with the look to improve the culture through learnings from the findings and training to be provided if required.

•        Contract management – Alastair Woodland (SWAP) to include contract management signing as part of the scope for this quarter.

•        Capital programme management – The Service Director Finance and Procurement, Nicola Hix, advised of the scheduled work to improve Capital programme reporting.

•        Adult and Children Services significant overspend budget setting regarding setting a budget lower than where it ended the previous year – The Executive Director Resources and Corporate Services, Jason Vaughan, advised of the complexity of budget reporting and the work taken place on the 2024/25 to report increased costs, demand modelling, savings.

Following consideration of the officer report, appendices and discussion, the Audit Committee:

•        Approved the Statement of Accounts, subject to no material changes, as attached in Appendix 1 for Somerset County Council for 2022/23, and delegated approval for the accounts to the Executive Director of Resources and Corporate Services in conjunction with the Chair or Vice-Chair, once any outstanding matters have been resolved.

•        Approved the updated Annual Governance Statement as included within the Statement of Accounts. • Noted the matters raised and findings in Grant Thornton’s Audit Findings Report in Appendix 2.

•        Approved the signing of the letter of representation on behalf of the Council and Somerset Pension Fund, as per Appendix 3.

•        Noted the position of the External Auditors assessment of the Authority’s Value for Money (VFM) judgment.