CROYDON COMMENTARY: While the narrative from the Government-appointed improvement panel, the council and the levelling up department is upbeat about an ‘increased pace’ of change at the bankrupt borough, a more realistic picture, as NICHOLAS PANES points out, is of a council still failing to perform fundamental, legal duties – like publishing their accounts, which would allow the claims made to be properly scrutinised
The council’s annual report for 2020-2021 is on the website but still in draft (unaudited) form.
The accounts for 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 are nowhere to be seen.
These were supposed to be produced by the Septembers after the end of the council’s financial year in the March.
Statutory notices, required to be issued if a local authority’s accounts are late, are only visible for 2020-2021, so Croydon appears to be in breach of the law regarding these notices, too, for the last two financial years.
While the winding up costs of Brick by Brick and the general financial position of Croydon Council are of acute interest to residents, there is no “puff of smoke” in the form of historical financial information.
There is evidence that Croydon are trying to deal with this, having commissioned (another) report on their year-end processes (available here).
Depressingly, this report has to go into minute detail, for example telling the council that they do not reconcile their bank balance often enough.
It does not place financial management in a good light if they cannot recognise this for themselves.
So we seem to be in for more of the same – super!
- Nicholas Panes is a former finance director of a large, public company, with experience of residential and commercial property development. It was Panes who in 2018 predicted the financial collapse of Croydon Council due to its £200million borrowing around failing housing developer Brick by Brick
Read Nicholas Panes’ previous Croydon Commentaries:
- Building towards the council’s financial ruin, Brick by Brick
- BxB’s collapse was predictable. Why did no one else notice?
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