Accounts of defunct Corby Borough Council STILL not signed-off more than two years after it was scrapped amid further delay

The final accounts of the former Corby Borough Council are still awaiting sign-off, more than two years after the council shut down.

Labour-run Corby Council was disbanded in April 2021 as part of the local government reorganisation in Northamptonshire.

Accountants at Ernst and Young have been scrutinising the books since then, but a series of delays have meant the accounts have never been signed off.

They had struggled to contact former borough staff to clarify entries and some had left the authority after their work had been deemed sub-par.

They were due to be presented at Monday’s (August 14) North Northamptonshire Council Audit and Governance Committee after members had previously imposed an end-of-July deadline. But the authority’s Section 151 officer Janice Gotts was left explaining that there had been another delay.

She said: “We were anticipating that the accounts would be signed off by 31 July but unfortunately that hasn’t been the case.”

She added there had been more queries on asset valuation which meant that the accounts couldn’t be signed off in time.

"It has all now been completed and reviewed by the lead auditor and there haven’t been any material adjustments either to the general fund or to the Housing Revenue Account reserves but it is still to be signed off by E&Y’s internal professional team,” she said.

She said the accounts sign-off had been extended to the end of September because the risks meant they had to be reviewed by a more senior partner who was not currently available.

Cllr Richard Levell (Con, Raunds) reminded the committee of a sunset clause built into their previous discussions which meant that if the accounts weren’t signed off by the end of July, they would need to come back to the full committee rather than being ratified just by the chairman and Ms Gotts.

Ms Gotts confirmed they would come back to the committee and that could potentially be either at their end of September or their November meeting.

Cllr Levell added: “If there’s a deadline of the twenty-something of September then E&Y have got to make that deadline. When I was an auditor the client was king for goodness sake and we should put extreme pressure on them to make them make that deadline.

"If they can’t get their internal house in order that’s not our problem. We shouldn’t be be suffering as a result.”

Ms Gotts said: “We’ll do everything we can to get them to do their own internal processes and checks but they will wait for their own internal people. It’s unfortunate the individual isn’t available at the moment.”

The final accounts of the former Northamptonshire County Council are also still outstanding and are being dealt with by the same external auditors.

Ms Gotts said they had also been hit by similar delays and the same September deadline had been applied to them. Their issues had arisen after protracted discussions between the Children’s Trust and external auditors.