Statement of accounts

Our Financial Procedure Rules outline how we manage finances. These form part of our Constitution.

There are 4 stages to providing the annual statement of accounts:

1. we produce a statement of accounts
2. we display a public notice here to advise you when you can inspect and make copies of the statement of accounts
3. we display another public notice to advise you when the accounts have been audited by an external auditor
4. the external audit and inspection report is presented to our Regulatory and Audit Committee

As required by Regulation 16(1) of the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015, the Council gives notice that the audit of accounts for 2020-21 has been completed.

View the audited Statement of Accounts.

The Accounts and Audit (England) Regulations 2015 - Regulation 10, as amended by The Accounts and Audit (Amendment) Regulations 2021 require the Council to publish the unaudited Statement of Accounts for the financial year ending 31 March 2022 by 31 July 2022.

Due to delays in completion of audit for the 2020 to 2021 accounts, it has impacted the preparation of 2021 to 2022 accounts. Work is in progress to consolidate the draft accounts for 2021 to 2022 with an expected completion by end of June 2024, following which the period for the exercise of public inspection will commence.

A further notice will be published in due course setting out the public inspection period as soon as the draft 2021 to 2022 Statement of Accounts have been finalised.

The audit of the draft statement of accounts for the year ended 31 March 2022 has not yet been started by the external auditors (Grant Thornton UK LLP). This delay is due to the outstanding audit of 2020-2021 accounts.

The Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/234) (regulation 10 paragraph (2a)) as amended by the Accounts and Audit (Amendment) Regulations 2022 (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/234/regulation/10.), includes provision for where the external audit of the draft statement of accounts for the year ended 31 March 2022 has not been completed by 30 November 2022.

The audit and issue of the audit opinion is expected to conclude during September 2024 after which the statement of accounts and audit opinion will be published as soon as is reasonably practicable.

Therefore, this notice of delayed audit is being published in accordance with Regulation 10, paragraph (2a) of the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/234/regulation/10.

The Accounts and Audit (England) Regulations 2015 - Regulation 10, as amended by The Accounts and Audit (Amendment) Regulations 2021 require the Council to publish the unaudited Statement of Accounts for the financial year ending 31 March 2023 by 31 May 2023.

Due to delays in completion of audit for the 2020 to 2021 accounts, it has impacted the preparation of 2022 to 2023 accounts. Work is in progress to consolidate the draft accounts for 2022 to 2023 with an expected completion by end of June 2024, following which the period for the exercise of public inspection will commence.

A further notice will be published in due course setting out the public inspection period as soon as the draft 2022-2023 Statement of Accounts have been finalised.

The audit of the draft statement of accounts for the year ended 31 March 2023 has not yet been started by the external auditors (Grant Thornton UK LLP). This delay is due to the outstanding audit of 2020-2021 accounts.

The Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/234) (regulation 10 paragraph (2a)) as amended by the Accounts and Audit (Amendment) Regulations 2022, includes provision for where the external audit of the draft statement of accounts for the year ended 31 March 2023 has not been completed by 30 September 2023.

The audit and issue of the audit opinion is expected to conclude during September 2024 after which the statement of accounts and audit opinion will be published as soon as is reasonably practicable.

Therefore, this notice of delayed audit is being published in accordance with Regulation 10, paragraph (2a) of the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015.

On 1 April 2020, Buckinghamshire Council was formed by the 4 district councils and former county council.

For a copy of the statement of accounts of former authorities email [email protected].

A shadow authority was established to help manage the transition between the former district and county councils and Buckinghamshire Council.

For a copy of the external auditor report and certificate 2019 to 2020:

Email: [email protected]

Nationally, the combined total outstanding local audits, as at July 2023 dating back to 2015-16 was 520: for financial year 2020/21 was 145 (31%) and for 2021/22 was 347 (74%).

Given that this is a national issue Government is developing proposals as to how this national backlog of Audits is to be cleared. The council’s Audit and Governance Committee have been updated of delays on a regular basis for all the financial years.

Find further details of meeting agendas and minutes.

Email: [email protected]