To report that the draft 2023/24 Statement of Accounts has been published on the Councils website and the formal public inspection period can begin when a draft of the accompanying Annual Governance Statement has been completed.

The Committee received a report on thedraft 2023/24 Statement of Accounts, which were appended to the report, and had been published on the Council’s website within six months of the previous year end for the first time in many years.  The formal public inspection period would begin when a draft of the accompanying Annual Governance Statement had been completed.  The report outlined the plan for external audit scrutiny, with the aim of reporting a substantially completed process to the next Committee meeting on 21 January 2025.  The Committee noted that the Government had set a Backstop Date of 28 February 2025 for all external audit opinions to be concluded for 2023/24.  This report was considered alongside the 2021/22 and 2022/23 Statement of Accounts item (see Minute 19 above).

Resolved:       That the progress made on the 2023-24 Statement of Accounts process and external audit be noted and the Finance Team be thanked for the considerable amount of work that had gone into the publication of the draft 2023/24 Statement of Accounts within six months of the previous year end and also the progress achieved towards concluding the Council’s 2020/21 and 2021/22 Statements of Accounts.