Faster Closure of Local Government Accounts

The Accounts and Audit (Wales) Regulations 2014 require the Council to publish their draft accounts by 30 June and to have themaudited and approved by 30 September.

Over the next few years, local government, national parks, police and fire bodies in Wales are likely to be required to bring forward the timescale for publishing their draft accounts and having them audited and approved. Due to this, the Auditor General for Wales recently held a seminar to share the learning and best practice from local government bodies(Wales and England) who have produced their accounts to earlier deadlines. This was attended by officers from the Finance Directorate.

The Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015, whichcame into force on 1 April 2015 for England only, have brought forward the dates for the publication, audit and approval of the accounts of English local government bodies for 2017-18. The draft accounts will need to be published by 31 May and auditedand approved by 31 July. The Treasury would also like to enable the Whole of Government Accounts to be made available by this date.

In order to align with the English local government bodies and for the Whole of Government Accounts publication deadlines, it is anticipated that the timescale for auditing and approving accounts in Wales willalso move forward to 31 July. Welsh Government are currently out to consultation on the following timetable to align Welsh Authorities timescalesfor their accounts to the English model.

Proposed Timetable

Accounts / 2015-16 / 2016-17 / 2017-18 / 2018-19 / 2019-20 / 2020-21
22 County and County Borough Councils & their Committees / Publish Draft / 30 June / 30 June / 30 June / 30 June / 30 June / 31 May
Audited
Final / 30 Sept / 30 Sept / 30 Sept / 31 Aug / 31 Aug / 31 July
Fire & Rescue
PCC
Chief Constable
National Parks / Publish Draft / 30 June / 30 June / 30 June / 31 May / 31 May / 31 May
Audited
Final / 30 Sept / 30 Sept / 30 Sept / 31 July / 31 July / 31 July
Smaller Relevant Bodies / Publish Draft / 30 June / 30 June / 30 June / 30 June / 30 June / 30 June
Audited Final / 30 Sept / 30 Sept / 30 Sept / 30 Sept / 30 Sept / 30 Sept

We have discussed the faster closure of our accounts with our Auditors, the Wales Audit Office, and we are proposing to voluntarily have the 2015-16 accounts published, audited and approved within a reduced timescale. It is proposed that the draft 2015-16 accounts are published by 31 May 2016 and audited and approved by 31 July 2016. This will involve having the annual inspection of accounts in June 2016 and a meeting of the Joint Committeeduring the last week of July 2016 to receive the Auditors ISA 260 report and to approve the accounts.

Whilst the faster closure of the accounts will be challenging for the Region, the earlier publication, audit and approvalof the accounts will enhance the Region’s accountability to local residents and other Stakeholders, improve its own financial management by providing earlier assurance on the previous year’s financial outturn. It will enable the Finance Directorate to free up time to focus on the future instead of the past, being able to focus on the current and future year’s financial issues.

RECOMMENDATION

The Board note the likely requirement for faster closure of local government accounts and approve the Region’s proposed timescale for publishing the draft 2015-16 accounts by 31 May 2016 and having then audited and approved by 31 July 2016.

Background Documents:

Accounts and Audit (Wales) Regulations 2014

Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015