The NSW Auditor General’s report on council financial statements to June 2021, released last week, noted that Kiama Council was the only council where an audit has not been finalised.

“The audit of Kiama Municipal Council is still in progress as at the date of this report due to significant accounting issues not resolved resulting in corrections to the financial statements and prior period errors,” says the Audit Office in its highlights of the report.

The report says these resolving issues include:

• weaknesses in supporting working papers and reconciliations of key accounts and sub-ledgers
• presentation and disclosure deficiencies in the draft financial statements
• four prior period accounting errors in council's draft financial statements, for which it is seeking supporting documentation from council
• liquidity and governance matters being considered by council.

Council has told The Bugle it understands the audit is close to completion, with Deloitte’s latest indication of the cost for the audit being $322,000, up from the expected $61,000.