Issue - meetings

The Director of Corporate Services and Section 151 Officer provided context to the update item. The target date for the audited statement of accounts had been moved to the 30th of November, but statute had not been amended to reflect such an allowance. Therefore, Auditors had provided a letter for display on local authorities’ websites, if the Audit would not be completed by the 30th of September, in order to clarify the position.  West Lindsey District Council’s Audit would not be completed, having only commenced mid-September, and this was the formal notification of such, which would be displayed on the website.

The accounts were expected at the Committee’s next meeting on 29 November.

The Chairman took the opportunity to highlight to Members that West Lindsey had received notification that from 2023/24 its newly appointed auditors – through the Public Sector appointments process, would be KPMG. Consultation was currently underway on the fees for financial audits, a major reset was expected, and from Autumn 2023 it could see costs / fees payable at least double, noting that the actual fees applied would be dependent on the amount of work required.  The S151 Officer confirmed this to be the case indicating a doubling in fees was to be expected.

With no further comments the update was NOTED.