Notice of Delay in Publication of Unaudited 2023/24 Statement of Accounts and in the Commencement of the Public Inspection Period
Under section 10 of the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015, the council is required to publish its draft annual Statement of Accounts by 31 May each year.
Under section 26 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014, any persons interested have a right at the audit of the accounts each year to inspect the accounting records for the financial year to which the audit relates and all books, deeds, contracts, bills, vouchers, receipts and other documents relating to those records. Regulations 14 and 15 of the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 (as amended) require that this right (and associated rights) are exercisable over a single period of 30 working days, commencing no later than 1st June 2024.
If this deadline cannot be met, the council is required to publish a notice of delay. Notice is given that:
1) The Council has not yet published the draft Statement of Accounts for 2023/24 and commenced the period for the exercise of public inspection.
2) The Council will publish a draft set of accounts as soon as reasonably practicable, following which the period for the exercise of public inspection will commence. The Council has been unable to meet this requirement due to delays in finalising the Final Statement of Accounts for 2022/23 as the Council had been looking to resolve an audit query and as such had been waiting for an estimate confirmation from an external organisation which was only received today and is subject to further discussion. The estimate also impacts on the 2023/24 Accounts. Other preparatory work has been completed.
A further notice will be published in due course setting out the public inspection period as soon as the draft 2023/24 Statement of Accounts have been finalised.
Dated 31 May 2024 Tim Sams, Head of Finance and S151 Officer