To present for consideration and approval a number of associated reports which include the following, to enable the final opinion on the accounts and value for money arrangements to be formally issued by the External Auditor:

·         The External Auditor’s Report for the year ended 31 March 2025;

·         The External Auditor’s Value for Money Report 2024/25;

·         The Council’s Statement of Accounts (including the Annual Governance Statement) for 2024/25 for consideration and approval for publication by the backstop date of 27 February 2026

(THIS REPORT IS "TO FOLLOW")

The Committee received a report whereby the External Auditor was able to formally issue the final opinion on the accounts and the value for money arrangements. This allowed Members to consider the following:

• The External Auditor’s Annual Report for the year ended 31 March 2025
• The External Auditor’s Year End Report for the year ended 31 March 2025

• The Council’s Statement of Accounts (including the Annual Governance Statement and proposed External Auditor’s Opinion) for 2024/25 for consideration and approval for publication by the backstop date of 27 February 2026.

The first two reports included the External Auditor’s Value for Money commentary.

The Council’s External Auditors had prepared the following two reports:

1)    The External Auditor’s Annual Report for the year ended 31 March 2025 (Attachment 1)

External Auditors were required to prepare such reports setting out the outcomes from their review of the Statement of Accounts (including the Annual Governance Statement) and the Council’s value for money arrangements. The Audit Committee was asked to consider the content of this annual report as part of the associated approval process that had related to the publication of the final audited Statement of Accounts and Annual Governance Statement.

2)    The External Auditor’s Year End Report for the year ended 31 March 2025 (Attachment 2)

To a large extent this covered the issues raised in the report highlighted above but along with some additional matters, it effectively acted as an overall and detailed summary of the various activities undertaken by the External Auditor and their associated findings for 2024/25.

The External Auditor reported that the audit was substantially complete, subject to a small number of outstanding items, including the Management Representation Letter.

It was noted that the Audit Committee was required to approve the Management Representation Letter separately and to authorise the Corporate Director (Finance & IT) and the Chairman of the Audit Committee to sign it prior to its submission to the External Auditor. The proposed letter (Attachment 3) followed the standard template, and based on current information, the External Auditor did not anticipate requesting any additional representations beyond those normally required.

Once the remaining tasks had been completed, the External Auditor would be able to finalise and formally issue the audit opinion and certify the accounts for 2024/25

Members were advised that the reports included detailed value for money commentary, building on the interim report presented to the Committee in September 2025. The Council was required to publish this commentary on its website at the same time as the Statement of Accounts.

A summary of the key content of the External Auditor’s reports was provided as follows:

External Auditor’s Annual Report for the year ended 31 March 2025

The Interim Annual Report had been presented to the Committee at its meeting held on 25 September 2025. Work had continued since this date and an updated and useful high-level summary against various key elements was set out on page 4 of the External Auditor’s latest report.

At the time of finalising this report, the External Auditor anticipated issuing a disclaimed audit opinion primarily due to the limitations imposed by the backstop date, but attention had also been drawn to the valuation of a limited number of specialised assets held by the Council. This latter point had previously been discussed with the Committee and remained an on-going issue and the Council was working with the External Auditor in advance of the 2025/26 audit to ensure that that could be satisfactorily resolved. 

External Auditor’s Year End Report for the year ended 31 March 2025

In terms of both reports, a limited number of recommendations / performance improvement observations had been made by the External Auditor, although that was set against the underlying position where no material misstatements or identified significant risks had been identified in terms of the financial statements. Management responses against each item had been provided where necessary. Several items were on-going from last year and along with any new observations or commentary this year, such activities would remain in progress, with updates to be provided to future meetings of the Committee.

The Statement of Accounts (including the Annual Governance Statement) for 2024/25 were set out as Attachment 4. Those included any required changes made in consultation with the External Auditor, with no direct impact on the overall financial position of the Council.

Subject to the Committee’s approval of the recommendations and the completion of the External Auditor’s outstanding work, the final Statement of Accounts for 2024/25 would be published by the backstop deadline of 27 February 2026.

It was moved by Councillor Sudra, seconded by Councillor Fairley and RESOLVED that:-

In respect of the 2024/25 Statement of Accounts and the associated External Auditor Reports relating to the year ended 31 March 2025, the Audit Committee:

(a)      notes the contents of the External Auditor’s reports attached, including the value for money commentary set out therein; 

(b)      endorses the management responses set out within the attached External Auditor reports and requests Officers to report the status / progress against each item to future meetings of the Committee;

(c)       approves the management representation letter relating to the year ended 31 March 2025 (Attachment 3);

(d)      authorises the Corporate Director (Finance & IT) and the Chairman of the Audit Committee to sign the management representation letter for forwarding to the External Auditor;

(e)      approves for publication the audited Statement of Accounts for 2024/25 as attached (including the External Auditor’s proposed opinion), and approves for signing, the Annual Governance Statement (AGS) set out in therein; and

(f)        in the event that changes to the Statement of Accounts, AGS and/or the External Auditor’s Reports are required following the completion of the External Audit Process, authorises the Chairman of the Audit Committee and the Corporate Director (Finance & IT) to consider and approve any required amendments before publication / onward signing as necessary.