Publication of Wigan Council's Statement of Accounts and Audit Opinion.
In line with the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015, the Council met its statutory deadline of 31st July 2022 for publication of draft accounts for the year 2021/22.
The external audit of the draft Statement of Accounts has not yet been completed by our external auditors, Mazars LLP and therefore we are not yet able to publish our audited 2021/22 Statement of Accounts in line with the publication date of 30th September 2022.
This situation is allowed for by Regulation 10, paragraph (2) of the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/234) (external link), as amended by the Accounts and Audit (Amendment) Regulations 2021 (SI 2021/262) (external link).
The delay is in part caused by a nationwide technical accounting issue relating to infrastructure assets, delaying publication of audited accounts for 2020/21. This technical accounting issue applies to all Local Authorities with material infrastructure assets. A solution has been proposed by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: the implementation of this solution is currently delayed to enable the completion of necessary statutory processes for the end of December 2022.
Wigan Council is continuing to work closely with the external auditor to ensure the required work is completed as soon as possible. The final Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2022 will be published as soon as the audit is concluded, and the Independent Auditor’s Report issued.
Paul McKevitt
Deputy Chief Executive and S151 Officer
Wigan Town Hall
Library Street
Wigan
WN1 1YN.