Slough Borough Council refiles 'inadequate' 2018/19 accounts

Slough Borough Council faces selling its Observatory House HQ following its bankruptcy

A debt-ridden council has said it has corrected and refiled a set of its accounts.

Slough Borough Council's accounts from 2018/19 have been resubmitted after auditors refused to sign them off.

The council was forced to declare bankruptcy last year, having clocked up £760m in borrowing debt and placed under government supervision.

It hopes the government will gain confidence in its financial position once the accounts are approved.

External accountants Grant Thornton said the council's finance team had "insufficient skills or capacity" to produce statements or working papers of quality and had "inadequate" governance arrangements over its subsidiary and joint venture companies, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

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Rob Anderson, the council's lead member for financial oversight, said another audit would not be "quick job" as it was "radically different" from previous accounts and could take about two months to be approved.

Council leader James Swindlehurst said once the accounts were signed off, the council would be in a "better place" than it has been for five years.

The authority expects to complete 2019/20 accounts for inspection by the end of September, the 2020/21 by the end of the year and 2021/22's by 31 March 2023.