Council Meeting 14 October 2021
External Audit 2020/21

1. The process for the external audit commences in May and must be completed
by 30 September at which point the Council has a statutory obligation to
publish a public notice along with various documents.

2. The External Auditors wrote to the Council by email on 30 September 2021 at
9:21 advising that they were unable to complete the audit by the requisite date
and issued an interim report. No substantive reasons for this were provided in
the interim report.

3. Notwithstanding the Council was required to publish the public notice and
attendant documents including the interim report on the website and the
notice boards. This was done on 30 September 2021.

4. On 30 September at 18:13 the auditors wrote to the Council by email advising
that they had completed the audit and issued their final report and certificate
of completion for 2020/21. The public notice and attendant documents
including the final report were published on the website and the notice boards
on 4 October 2021 and are attached to this report.

5. The final report confirms that the Annual Governance and Accountability
Return was completed in accordance with proper practices and no other
matters have come to the auditors’ attention giving cause for concern that
relevant legislation and regulatory requirements have not been met.

6. The auditors have drawn one other matter not affecting their opinion to the
Council’s attention as follows:

The authority has received £7115 in respect of an insurance claim against
expenditure during the prior year and has accounted for it as a receipt in
Section 2 Box 3 rather than netting it against the relevant expense. Whilst the
Practitioners’ Guide is silent on the matter, it is our view that the true cost to
the authority should be shown on a net basis. Accounting for it on a gross
basis inflates the gross income and expenditure of the authority and can push
the authority into a higher fee band than it would otherwise be in.

It is correct to say that the Council’s accounts showed the expenditure on a
new bus shelter in 2019 and the receipt from the insurers of the successful
claim for that expenditure as separate items as indeed they were shown in the
Cash Book. To net them off against each other would have distorted the
income and expenditure records. In any event showing the true income and
expenditure did not push the Council into a higher fee band.

7. It is RECOMMENDED that the outcome of the external audit be noted.

Graham White
Parish Clerk
7 October 2021