Surrey County Council calls in financial troubleshooters - again
Surrey County Council has commissioned a second report from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy (CIPFA) to review its financial resilience. This follows a report commissioned in December 2016, costing nearly £25,000, which warned that the financial position of the County Council was "extremely worrying" and that "it is risk of becoming financially unsustainable".
Cllr Will Forster, Liberal Democrat spokesperson on Audit, said today:
"It is concerning that Surrey County Council is, for the second time, having to rely on an external body to provide it with financial reassurance. It also emphasises that the lessons and warnings from the first CIPFA report have not been learnt or heeded, and that the County Council's financial position is still poor.
"Furthermore, the timing of the second CIPFA report has overlapped with the annual auditing of the County Council's financial statements by Grant Thornton. As there was an assumption that their work would overlap with this second CIPFA review, Grant Thornton did not complete a review of the County Council's financial position and so cannot give a "Value for Money" conclusion as part of their audit. With the County Council looking at saving £250 million over the next two years, Surrey residents will be concerned that County Hall's finances are still so fragile".
NOTES
- Grant Thornton's audit report and comment on CIPFA can be found here (page 13):
- The original CIPFA report from December 2016 can be found here: