Rebuilding Slough's finances

When a council publishes its draft statement of accounts on time, it should not normally be news. For Slough BC, publishing the draft 2025-26 accounts by the statutory deadline marks a significant milestone: a move from financial failure, weak governance and a historic accounts backlog towards disciplined reporting, stronger assurance and renewed confidence in the stewardship of public money.The milestone sits within a national reset of local audit. The statutory backstop regime has created a hard timetable for publication, but it has not removed the deeper task for councils emerging from failure – rebuilding the systems, evidence, controls and culture that allow accounts to be relied upon again.How the backlog took holdThe backlog began with the 2018-19 draft statement of accounts. They were published but could not be audited because the council lacked adequate evidence to support key figures.Audit work exposed poor working papers, missing records, incomplete audit trails, material errors and unresolved balances. The balance sheet also needed reconstruction because later years depended on the 2018-19 closing position. The accounts received a disclaimed audit opinion as auditors could not obtain sufficient appropriate evidence. Rebuilding the 2018-19 baseline meant the accounts were not redrafted and provided to auditors until April 2024, almost five years later than planned.The problem wasn't missed deadlines, rather, it reflected a longer deterioration in financial control, record keeping and corporate oversight. Reports to the audit and corporate governance committee highlighted weak reconciliations, legacy accounting issues, statutory return problems, loss of corporate memory, senior leadership instability and insufficient evidence to support historic balances.From statutory reset to local deliveryFor 2025-26 the audit backstop is 31 January 2027, with draft unaudited accounts required by 30 June 2026. Slough's publication by that June deadline is therefore more than administrative compliance, it is the point at which the council re-enters the normal rhythm of statutory financial reporting.The recovery has been sequential (see box). Slough moved from an unresolved 2018-19 baseline to publishing seven sets of accounts in 22 months. The 2024-25 accounts were the first published by the audit backstop date and subject to a short period of audit work. The 2025-26 accounts are the first published on time and subject to a full audit process since 2017-18.The work behind the milestoneThe journey back to timely publication has required sustained reconstruction, review, reconciliation and governance improvement rather than a single accounts exercise. The council has:• Rebuilt the 2018-19 baseline. The reconstructed accounts provided the opening position to complete later years.• Published backlog years under pressure. After April 2024, successive sets of accounts were completed and published, clearing the historic backlog.• Strengthened balance sheet review and reconciliation. External review work in 2024 and 2025 tested progress, identified areas of focus and helped prepare the council for a full audit of 2025-26.• Used external audit learning. Grant Thornton's short review of the 2024-25 accounts provided further insight for the 2025-26 process.• Maintained member oversight. The audit and corporate governance committee has received regular updates on risks, progress, internal control, financial management and governance.• Linked recovery to wider improvement. The finance improvement programme now brings together actions arising from internal audit, external audit and value for money recommendations.Why this matters beyond SloughThe statement of accounts helps answer a basic democratic question, can a council account for the money it raises, spends, borrows and invests? In a period of constrained public finances, that question affects services, assets, transformation, savings, council tax and the credibility of medium-term financial planning.For residents, timely accounts are evidence that financial decisions are being made in the open. For partners, government, auditors, suppliers, lenders and staff, they show movement from crisis management towards business-as-usual control. For the wider sector, Slough's experience illustrates a wider lesson that the national backstop can reset the timetable, but only local discipline can rebuild assurance.Build-back: from publication to assuranceThe next phase is to turn publication into assurance, and assurance into confidence. That means maintaining timely production, supporting auditors with high-quality working papers, strengthening reconciliations and embedding lessons from the backlog into normal financial management.The 2025-26 audit is due to commence in July 2026, and the council is working with Grant Thornton on a rebuilding assurance plan to move towards a full audit opinion on Slough's accounts. We're asking what we can do to speed up the process, which otherwise could take as long as six years.The statement of accounts is not the whole story of Slough's financial recovery, but it is an essential chapter. It shows the hard work of moving from historic uncertainty towards transparency, control and accountability, for which the finance team deserves huge plaudits.For a council seeking to rebuild trust, that is not just good accounting. It is good governance.Ian O'Donnell is interim chief operating officer and s151 officer at Slough BC

Title

FINANCE

Rebuilding Slough's finances

By Ian O'Donnell | 13 August 2026

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