There are a few weeks left before we start preparing our statement of accounts for 2022-23. There are no Easter issues to think about over the year-end, the pandemic is behind us and we have guidance from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA). That leaves two dilemmas: have we got the resources within our teams to prepare the accounts in a timely and accurate fashion? Can our external auditors meet the task of playing catch-up to sign off the accounts on time?

Many accounting teams are still dealing with audit queries from not one, but in some cases, three or more years. I am not talking about councils with problems. These are districts, counties and unitaries with strong financial standing.