Issue - meetings

Report of the External Auditor, Deloitte.

Report of the External Auditor, Deloitte.

The Deputy Chief Finance Officer (DCFO), Ola Owolabi, gave a verbal update to the Committee. He reported that a meeting of senior management from Deloitte and the Council, including Chief Finance Officer Homira Javadi, Chief Executive Rob Cottrill and Craig Wisdom, Partner (Audit & Assurance), Deloitte, had taken place in February to discuss the situation of outstanding External Audits. As a result, Deloitte had now committed appropriate resources, between March and September, to address the three external audits of 2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21. This would be supported with monthly progress-monitoring meetings.

Ben Sheriff, Deloitte, then presented his update on plans to complete the External Audit for 2018/19 (which had been circulated to committee members ahead of the meeting as an agenda supplement).

Mr. Sheriff confirmed that he expected to complete the ISA 260 report for the 2018/19 audit within a month or so and that there would be only minor amendments compared to the draft ISA 260 report presented to the Committee at the November 2020 meeting.

The Chair thanked Mr Sheriff, the CFO and the DCFO for their reports and for their efforts to establish a position where the Committee could now look forward with confidence to receiving the outstanding External Audits in the next few months.

Resolved

1.     To note the updates from Deloitte and the Deputy Chief Finance Officer.

2.     To request that Officers liaise with Democratic Services to agree an appropriate schedule of committee meetings to ensure timely review of External Audit reporting from Deloitte.