Late accounts 'no impact' on strong finances says County Hall boss

A report to the cabinet at Wiltshire Council about the difficulties in getting the accounts for the financial year 2019-20 by the council’s auditors Deloitte has called on the authority to put in what the company says should be sufficient resources for fixing the issue.

And the failure of the 2019-20 accounts to be signed off means the accounts for the three subsequent years will also not be audited and signed off any time soon.

Read more: Wiltshire Council's accounts troubles continue amid row with auditors

But Councillor Nick Botterill, the cabinet member for finance at County Hall said: “This is a highly technical and complex issue, but it has no impact on the council’s funds. While it is esoteric in nature, nevertheless we still want to get it resolved as soon as possible.

“It’s also important to note that type of issue is being seen nationally and is having an impact on many other councils across the country. The government is looking at proposals to address the significant backlog of local government audits in England.”

Nick Botterill

Cllr Botterill acknowledges that things might have been done differently in the past and added: “We had a productive discussion about this in the most recent all-party Audit and Governance Committee meeting and the general consensus was that it’s in everyone’s best interest that we resolve this and move on, and our finance team is working tirelessly to achieve this.

“We have employed additional, dedicated technical financial accounting agency support to help resolve the issues that have been found. This resource is over and above work within the existing team, which shows our commitment to complete the outstanding audit.

“We take pride on being professional, open and transparent with our finances, especially where decisions impact the lives of Wiltshire residents. Someone coming fresh to this situation may be given the impression that we’re in financial difficulty like other councils that have made national headlines recently but that couldn’t be further from the truth. I can assure residents that we are on a strong financial footing, and this allows us to plan for the long-term with confidence, which can’t be said for some other authorities.

“We will continue to work hard to resolve this and it’s important we do so, but it’s likely to take more time. We will continue to keep all stakeholders up to date as the process moves forward.”

Wiltshire Council said it had set balanced budgets every year since 2019-20 and has done so for the next three financial years, from 2023-24 to 2025-26.