Lewes Councillors 'Disappointed' With Accounting Delays

Lewes councillors have expressed disappointment with the authority’s external auditors over the long-delayed publication of the council’s annual accounts.

At a meeting on Monday (September 14), members of Lewes District Council’s audit and standards committee expressed their frustration at further delays to the publication of final and audited accounts for the 2018/19 financial year. 

According to council officers, the delay to publication – now more than 13 months since the July 31 deadline – is because the accounts have not yet been signed-off by the authority’s external auditor Deloitte.

Officers said this was initially due to delays to the council’s own preparation of accounts as a result of “timing and a system implementation” issues. 

However, officers added, Deloitte has yet to complete its examination of the council’s finances since this initial delay, due to a lack of available resources.

While the external audit is now expected to be completed by the end of November, many committee members expressed their dismay over the long delay.

They included  Christine Robinson (Lab), who asked whether the council could cut ties with Deloitte and appoint another auditor. 

She said: “If they don’t come forward with the 2018/19 accounts in November, then I think we as a council need to really seriously look at our relationship, because they are not cheap are they?”

Officers, however, confirmed that the council is no longer responsible for appointing its own auditors, with all public sector audit contracts procured through an organisation known as Public Sector Audit Appointments Ltd (PSAA).

While the council could request a new auditor through PSAA, officers warned this would likely be a lengthy process.

Committee chairman Julian Peterson (Con) also expressed frustration. He said:

“The PSAA group, which we have to go through, negotiated a very cheap price with Deloitte. 

“Back in November [2019] they said it would be January. In January it was pushed back again. 

“The committee did recognise that councils weren’t getting the top notch service from Deloitte because the fee they’re getting isn’t particularly interesting to them. 

“I’m trying to be reasonable here, but we did express annoyance at both PSAA and Deloitte and quite stern words were exchanged.

“I do think it is disappointing this is now going on to November but my personal view is that we really do need to stay with them until this has been done and completed.”

The council is now working on getting its final accounts for the 2019/20 financial year published as well.

The deadline for the 2019/20 final accounts has been extended in light of the coronavirus pandemic, with the due date of July 31 being extended until November 30.

The council is not alone in its lack of final accounts for the 2018/19 financial year. According to a recent inquiry into public sector auditing, around 40 per cent of local authority audits in England and Wales failed to meet the July 31 deadline for report in 2018/19. 

(https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-financial-reporting-and-external-audit-independent-review)

The inquiry found around 30 per cent were still outstanding by the end of September 2019, although as of July 2020 this had fallen to 8.2 per cent. This meant 42 local authorities – including both Eastbourne and Lewes councils –  still did not have final accounts signed off as of July 2020.

The inquiry report went on to recommend the formation of new public body to take over from PSAA (itself a temporary body) and take a stronger role in monitoring and managing local audit contracts.

It also recommended a new fee structure be approved to improve quality of the audits.