FULLY audited accounts for  2016-17 should have been  published by Worcestershire County Council  at the end of last September.

Unfortunately County Hall did not publish its accounts until nearly two weeks later on October 13.

Councillors on the authority’s Audit and Governance committee heard that  both  c9ouncil officers and  their accountants are ‘cautiously optimistic’ that accounts for this year, which will finish at the end of March, will be ready in time for the legal deadline.

Sue Alexander, the interim chief financial officer at County Hall presenet6d an updated ‘lessons learnt’ report.

She said: “It was clear that the finance leadership team did not receive regular reports on the progress of the accounts.  The small 5team in charge in previous years had been seconded to other projects.

“Senior finance staff   have now returned to their original roles and the central finance team is fully staffed.”

Ms Alexander’s colleague  Jenny Morris added: “One of the big  challenges is knowing where data is held in the new accounting system, and getting it out of the system in the right format.”

Accounting services are provided to the county council by private company Liberata.

  Councillor Luke Mallett said: “Given our size and the significance of the services we provide to the public its important to have our counts compliant.

“I’m worried about the timescale we have to achieve the next accounts in. i’d be looking  for absolute assurance from Liberata .

Ms Alexander replied: “Liberata have been extremely responsive over the last three weeks. They have been working with us extremely closely.”

John Gregory, who works for the council’s  auditors Grant Thornton said: “It’s very clear form the last few weeks  that finalising the accounts is higher up this council’s agenda than it was a year ago, and we are making more progress. I am cautiously optimistic about where we are.”

Ms Alexander said  she would present account for  the year 2017-18 on 17 may and those accounts would receive a major audit by 29 May.

The Committee agreed unanimously that  the chairman and vice chairman of the committee should get regular updates on the progress of closing the current year’s accounts.