Issue - meetings

Report by the Chief Finance Officer

28.1     The Committee considered a report by the Chief Finance Officer and received a presentation from the external auditors, Grant Thornton UK LLP of their draft Audit Findings Report.

28.2     The Committee discussed the issues that Grant Thornton (GT) encountered regarding engagement with the professional valuer which delayed the draft audit opinion being reported to Audit Committee.

28.3     The Committee noted the national issue around the valuation and accounting for infrastructure assets which is causing the sign off delay for all Council audits in the country.

28.4     The Committee noted that GT is awaiting the outcome of consultation for a statutory override from CIPFA regarding Infrastructure Asset valuation before GT can sign off the audit and accounts. GT advised the Committee it is unlikely that there will be significant changes to the draft statement of accounts or draft audit opinion following the statutory override which is likely to occur around Christmas 2022.

28.5     The Committee discussed the impact of remote and hybrid working on the time that it has taken for GT to complete their audit activities to produce the annual governance report.

28.6     The Committee noted that GT will be issuing a Value for Money Audit Letter to East Sussex County Council as a requirement from the National Audit Office and this will be completed before the next meeting of the Audit Committee in March 2023.

28.7     The Committee RESOLVED to:

1) note the report and its appendices;

2) confirm that there were no concerns arising from the draft Independent Auditor’s (GT) report or the management response to it, that need to be brought to the attention of the Governance Committee; and

3) delegate review of the final Independent Auditor’s (GT) report to the Chair and Vice Chair of the Audit Committee so long as there are no significant changes to the draft report.