Unitary authority hit with statutory recommendation over audit concerns
Wiltshire Council has expressed disappointment over the "tone" of an external auditor's report that included a statutory recommendation and found "pervasive control weaknesses" at the local authority.
In a final report on the council's 2019/20 financial statements, external auditor Deloitte also raised questions about the council's ability to secure value for money.
They said: "I have concluded that these weaknesses are so significant in terms of their impact, that I am unable to satisfy myself that the Council has proper arrangements in place to secure VFM [value for money]."
However, Wiltshire's cabinet member for finance, Cllr Nick Botterill, hit out against the findings, stating: "We take pride on being professional, open and transparent with our finances (which after all involve spending taxpayers money), especially where decisions impact the lives of Wiltshire residents, and we resent that this report implies otherwise."
The auditor's report, which was considered by Wiltshire's Audit and Governance Committee last week (5 December), said: "I have issued a disclaimer of opinion as I have been unable to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to provide a basis for an audit opinion due to the pervasive weaknesses in the controls that are necessary to support the production of accounts in compliance with applicable law and the CIPFA/LASAAC Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting 2019/20, and the significant volume of errors identified."
In total, the auditor found 49 areas where weaknesses in control were identified, 24 of which they assessed as having a high severity of impact.
Further problems highlighted in the report include 15 unadjusted misstatements "that remain in the latest draft accounts, which indicate an overstatement of net assets of £15m", and eight main corrections that have been made since Wiltshire approved the first draft of the 2019/20 financial statements for publication.
It also identified 15 disclosure deficiencies that have yet to be corrected in the council's latest draft.
The auditor issued a statutory recommendation under Section 24, Schedule 7(2) of the Local Audit and Accountability Act, recommending that the council address the control weaknesses.
On value for money, the report added: "There are weaknesses in the council's arrangements for reliable and timely financial reporting and maintaining a sound system of internal control, which is reflected in my audit report.
"I have concluded that these weaknesses are so significant in terms of their impact, that I am unable to satisfy myself that the Council has proper arrangements in place to secure VFM."
Responding to the findings, Cllr Nick Botterill said: "While we respect the work auditors have put in to produce this report, we are disappointed with the overall tone as we feel this doesn't really reflect the situation, which is complex and highly technical.
"We agree that some elements could have been done differently and there are certainly potential take aways and aspects for future development.
"However, this report seems to question our commitment to resolve this issue which I find difficult to accept."
Cllr Botterill said the council had employed additional, dedicated technical, financial accounting agency support to help resolve the issues.
He also complained that some information in the report, including outstanding work, "was not flagged to the council until the report was received and reported back in February".
He added: "The report doesn't mention the delays we've had in getting important information and feedback from the auditors, which has been a major contributory factor to progress to resolve things being much slower than we had anticipated.
"We take pride on being professional, open and transparent with our finances (which after all involve spending taxpayers money), especially where decisions impact the lives of Wiltshire residents, and we resent that this report implies otherwise."
Cllr Botterill added that the council remains on "a strong financial footing".
The Audit and Governance Committee also considered a second Deloitte report concerning the 2020/21 & 2021/22 audits.
The second report found that the unitary could not comply with the Accounts and Audit (Amendment) Regulations 2024 because it produced draft financial statements two weeks before the deadline for submission of the financial statements on 13 December 2024.
"We have reported this non-compliance to the Financial Reporting Council under the escalated reporting framework in place for this period up to 13 December 2024", the report noted.
Auditors were also said to have experienced delays in obtaining information from the council, which stopped Deloitte from completing its work.
Adam Carey
