Issue - meetings

This report introduced an updated Audit Findings Report from the External Auditors, Grant Thornton.   Harkamal Vaid from Grant Thornton outlined the report advising that the content remained largely as reported in November last year, with an unqualified audit opinion issued in January.

Harkamal Vaid assured that there were no significant changes to report but signposted Members to pages 66 to 69 which highlighted the audit adjustments made since the last report, full details of which were in Section – Audit Adjustments.   There were two adjustments to the accounts which were not material.

The Chair referred to his formal letter of complaint regarding the certification of the accounts, sent on 19 February 2024, which the Committee had been copied in to.  The External Auditor’s response had also been shared with Members prior to the meeting.  The Chair also queried the review of journals, asking if the Council worked differently to any other authorities.  He was keen that this did not continue to be a recurring item but was assured this was not due to a fundamental breakdown of controls.

Councillor Sarah Feeney also asked for clarification on the issue of journals, and queried if this became more important when clear overspend on projects occurred, such as at Birmingham City Council with their IT project.  Harkamal advised that it was not uncommon that journals were not authorised, recognising that there were thousands of journal entries in the system.  He also gave assurances that the auditors had undertaken a significant amount of testing and no problem had been found.

Having considered the report, it was

Resolved

That the Audit and Standards Committee notes and comments on the updated Audit Findings Report of the External Auditors for Warwickshire County Council, attached at Appendix A to the report.