FAN COVID-19 Alert

8 April 2020

CIPFA FAN has provided this Alert to support practitioners accounting under the 2019/20 Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting in the United Kingdom (the Code). We hope you find it of benefit.

The Annual Governance Statement for 2019/20 - Matters to consider as a result of the coronavirus pandemic

The CIPFA Better Governance Forum has issued a briefing for its subscribers on how to take account of the impact of coronavirus on the Annual Governance Statement (AGS). This is a short summary of key points for FAN, WFAN and SFAN subscribers. The full briefing is available to subscribers of the Better Governance Forum.

Reflecting the challenges from Coronavirus in the AGS

The AGS assesses governance in place during 2019/20 so the majority of the year will be unaffected by coronavirus. The conclusion on whether or not governance is fit for purpose should reflect the normal operations.

However coronavirus will have impacted on governance during March 2020 and authorities also need to ensure that the AGS is current at the time of its publication, so it is essential therefore that the AGS reflects the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on governance. Where necessary, a second conclusion on the adequacy of governance arrangements during this period could be included to make clear the impact.

The impact on governance may fall into the following broad categories:

• Impact on business as usual in the delivery of services
• New areas of activity as part of the national response to coronavirus and any governance issues arising
• The funding and logistical consequences of delivering the local government response
• Assessment of the longer term disruption and consequences arising from the coronavirus pandemic.

Once the crisis is over authorities are likely to conduct a review of the lessons to be learned from its response. This could be a suitable area for inclusion as one of the organisation’s significant governance issues.

For full details of the requirements of the Annual Governance Statement see Delivering Good Governance in Local Government Framework 2016 and the Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting in the United Kingdom 2019/20.

IFRS 16 Deferral and Year-end Bulletin

Just to confirm that the decision at CIPFA/LASAAC this week not to amend the 2019/20 Code requirements does not impact on the previous decision taken to defer IFRS 16 in the Code.

To clarify, IFRS 16 Leases has been deferred a year and will now come into the Code for 2021/22 with a transition date of 1 April 2021, as set out in the FAN alert on 27 March.

CIPFA has issued this statement in respect of this week's CIPFA/LASAAC decision. As a consequence of that decision, CIPFA will be issuing a Year End Bulletin to provide guidance to practitioners on issues relevant to preparing the 2019/20 accounts. A draft version will be considered by the Local Authority Accounting Panel, with the intention of approving and issuing the Bulletin by the end of next week.

Amendment to Accounts and Audit Regulations (England)

MHCLG has now issued the Accounts and Audit (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 which confirm the extended timetable for the publication of the 2019/20 financial statements.

As a reminder, all local authority bodies will have until 30 November 2020 to publish the audited accounts. The public inspection period must start on or before the first working day in September, which means that authorities will have until 31 August at the latest to publish draft accounts.

The amended regulations also permit authorities publishing their accounts earlier than those dates, so for this year authorities must publish the dates of their public inspection period, explaining why they are departing from normal practice for 2020.

We hope this subscriber update is helpful and that you stay healthy and safe during these unprecedented times.

David, Caroline and Sandra