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Lancashire Combined Fire Authority

Audit Committee

Meeting to be held on 25 July 2023

Financial Statements Update

(Appendix 1 refers)

Contact for further information:

Steven Brown - Director of Corporate Services – Telephone Number 01772 866804

Executive Summary

This report provides the Audit Committee with an update on preparation of the Authority’s 2022/23 unaudited Financial Statements and includes the draft core financial statements for information; the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Account, Movement in Reserves Statement and Balance Sheet.

Decision Required

The Audit Committee is asked to:-

· note the update with progress in preparing the unaudited Financial Statements; and

· note the Authority’s draft core financial statements that will form part of the 2022/23 unaudited Financial Statements.

Information

The Accounts and Audit (amendment) Regulations 2022 came into force on 22^nd July 2022 and revised the statutory deadline for publishing the audited financial statements to 30 September for 2022/23 accounts and the subsequent 5 years. The deadline for the Authority to produced and publish draft accounts has reverted back to the 31^st May for the 2022/23 accounts as per the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015.

At the previous meeting the Committee was advised that due to changes in the finance team and delays implementing the new financial system the Authority was seeking to produce their draft set of financial statements for 2022/23 by the 31^st July 2023. At the time of writing the Authority has produced a first draft of the financial statements and its quality assurance processes have now commenced.

There is no requirement to present the unaudited accounts to the Committee before the external audit process commences however, to ensure the Committee is kept up‑to‑date with the process towards completion of the audited accounts the draft core financial statements are included in Appendix 1. There is a requirement to obtain certification of the accounts by the Responsible Financial Officer (RFO); for the Authority this is the Director of Corporate Services – this will be completed by the end of July and the draft statements published on the Authority’s website.

The Accounts and Audit (England) Regulations 2015 apply to the preparation, approval and audit of the Statements of Accounts and other financial statements. These regulations are based on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) which attempt to standardise accounts in a consistent format across both the public and private sectors with the aim of achieving greater transparency. The table below summarises the adjustments required to the revenue outturn to reach the Total Comprehensive Income and Expenditure reported in the financial statements.

	£’000
Revenue Outturn Overspend	1,633
Remove Capital Contributions and transfers to / from reserves	(3,825)
Adjustments for Capital Purposes	4,214
Net change for Pensions Adjustments	12,868
Other Differences	416
Deficit on provision of services	15,307
(Surplus)/Deficit on revaluation of fixed assets	(21,735)
Actuarial (gains)/losses on pension fund assets	(276,694)
Total Comprehensive Income and Expenditure (Surplus)	(283,121)

The draft Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Account, Movement in Reserves Statement and Balance Sheet are set out in Appendix 1. Subject to changes as part of the Quality Assurance Processes these will form part of the accounts for audit.

Financial Implications

As set out in the report.

Business Risk Implications

None

Environmental Impact

None

Equality and Diversity Implications

None

Human Resource Implications

None

Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985

List of background papers

N/a