Councils may be aware that the delay in finalising accounts for 2021/22 has meant that information from the March 2022 triennial valuations of pension funds has become available before the audit of many accounts has been signed-off. This has led some auditors to request that the accounts are re-done using this more up to date information.

Following discussions between stakeholders, last week the National Audit Office (NAO) issued supplementary guidance to auditors (guidance note SGN 3) and CIPFA issued supplementary guidance to accounts preparers (CIPFA Bulletin 14 Supplement). Taken together these make it clear that there is no need for the accounts to be re-stated using the triennial valuations, unless the original valuation in the accounts contained material omissions such as not taking account of an existing large-scale restructuring/redundancy programme. Hopefully, this will now prevent the issue of pension valuations adding further to the delays in finalising accounts.