Slough Borough Council has fully accepted and acknowledged the findings of an audit report setting out serious errors discovered as part of the audit of the 2018/19 accounts.
The council has since made very good progress in addressing its well-documented financial challenges and has a financial strategy in place which is starting to come to fruition.
The council has also drafted its 2019/20 accounts and submitted them to the auditors and has almost completed the 2020/21 accounts.
Its new finance team started to introduce proper practices after their arrival part way through 2021/22 from when the council anticipates better quality accounts will be possible.
This year to date has also seen total asset sales of over £170m, with plans to raise £200m by the end of the year with a further £200m of sales targeted in 2023/24.
In addition, very good progress has been made on balancing its previous overspend in the dedicated schools grant and in identifying sufficient proposals to balance its 2023/24 budget, among many other matters.
Councillor Rob Anderson, lead member for financial oversight and council assets, said: “We accept and fully support the audit response; this confirms many of the things we have discovered and I know from my meetings with them over the last year that Grant Thornton have done a very thorough job.
“We now need to continue to work towards financial recovery, furthering the significant progress which has already been made.”
The full report from the auditors and accompanying reports can be found here: Agenda for Audit and Corporate Governance Committee on Wednesday, 22nd February, 2023, 6.30 pm (slough.gov.uk)