Decision details

This item was taken after items: Lancashire County Council Audit Plan 2018/19 and Lancashire County Pension Fund Audit Plan 2018/19, which were brought forward with the agreement of the chair.

Robin Baker, Director and Engagement Lead and Angela Pieri, Engagement Manager, representing Grant Thornton, the county council's external auditors, presented an update in terms of progress in delivering the audit for both the County Council and the pension fund. It was explained that the auditors had undertaken an interim audit, updating their understanding of the control environment and undertaken early substantive testing to ease the work over the coming months. It was anticipated that the draft financial statements would be available by the end of this week and would be published on the Council's website by the statutory deadline. The final detailed audit report would be presented at the Committee meeting on 29 July 2019. It was highlighted that good progress had been made on the audit and there had been no adverse findings to date.

The Chair recommended that members attend the understanding financial accounts training course to be held on 24 June 2019.

Resolved: That the external audit progress report and sector update 2018/19 be noted.