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Costs of delays to audit of South Cambridgeshire District Council accounts revealed




The costs of delays to the audit into South Cambridgeshire District Council’s accounts from three years ago has been revealed.

The audit and accounts are finally due to be signed off by councillors on Friday (February 4), at an audit and corporate governance committee.

Cllr Bridget Smith, leader of South Cambridgeshire District Council. Picture: Keith Heppell
Cllr Bridget Smith, leader of South Cambridgeshire District Council. Picture: Keith Heppell

A report from auditors Ernst and Young LLP shows £202,271 has been paid for the work, including £75,000 in fees attributable to audit overruns and delays.

The council has said it has faced “significant challenges” with its fixed asset register.

It also previously explained that the audit of the 2018-19 accounts coincided with the transferring of details of the council’s assets from “many outdated sources” to one register.

The auditors identified “significant issues” with this migration of data, which took “considerable time and effort” to resolve.

Around £65,000 has been paid in fees to the auditors for work relating to the data migration to the new fixed asset register.

The 2018-19 accounts represented the fourth that the council has failed to publish its accounts by the target date.

The report suggested the inability to “adequately replace” its previously long-standing chief accountant, who retired in 2017, was the main issue.

The council hired a number of interim accountants, meaning it was “unable to put in place adequate capacity and capability” to prepare accurate and complete statements.

The auditors have now “substantially completed” all of the audit and “adequately resolved”., issues raised with the council, including that the fixed asset register and the general ledger did not reconcile.

Once signed off, work will move to the completion of the 2019/20 accounts audit.

A council report noted: “Both sides have worked hard to complete this milestone and it is now imperative that we move on to complete the 2019-20 audit, as part of the process of ‘catch up’.

“The [district council] team have already made good progress on this and work has been allocated and resourced in order to move swiftly onto finalisation of 2019-20.”

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