Ceredigion County Council has had “difficulties in producing timely, accurate and high-quality accounts”, the Auditor General for Wales has said, adding that insufficient progress has been made on the issues.

The Auditor General for Wales Adrian Crompton wrote to the council in March.

He said that while the 2023/24 accounts were received in time, “the audit took longer than planned given significant issues with internal asset revaluations.”

In 2024/25 Ceredigion faced similar issues with external asset valuations and this delayed the submission of the draft accounts to 16 July 2025.

As in 2023/24 the audit took longer than planned, with both set of accounts certified more than a month after the deadline.

Mr Crompton said that “matters are improving but progress has not been yet sufficient to meet sector deadlines.”

He asked the council to “continue to prioritise the production of high-quality timely accounts” and agree a joint audit delivery plan alongside his audit team “to cover the production and audit of the 2025/26 accounts, to demonstrate how these accounts will meet the sector deadlines” in June and September.

Responding to the Auditor General’s letter, Ceredigion County Council Chief Finance Officer and Section 151 Officer Duncan Hall said that “the production of high quality, timely accounts is a matter that the Council takes extremely seriously.”

“Both myself as Section 151 Officer and Eifion as Chief Executive take pride in the fact that Ceredigion has a strong track record when it comes to financial management matters, as these are an essential part of the core foundations of how the Council operates and is able to perform at the levels it does,” he said.

“Nevertheless, it is fully acknowledged that it is essential that the Council improves on its 2024/25 accounts position as the 2024/25 accounts were submitted on 16 July 2025, 16 days after the 30 June 2025 sector deadline.

“I am re-assured though that the council’s accounts and supporting working papers are generally seen as being comprehensive and of a consistently good quality and that Ceredigion is not in the position of being required to produce a recovery plan, unlike some authorities in Wales.”

Mr Hall added there is a “comprehensive operational Closure of Accounts timetable in place, detailing over 150 key actions and tasks required to achieve the 30 June 2026 target date for submission of the 2025/26 Accounts to Audit Wales.

“We acknowledge the need to ensure that the accounts submitted are of a high quality at the point of submission and that the associated working papers are available immediately after submission of the Accounts, in order for your audit work to start in a timely manner.”

Mr Crompton said he “recognises the Council’s financial and capacity challenges” and appreciates “the commitment and cooperation” of staff.

He said he and his team, would continue to work closely with the council on the issue.

The Auditor General’s letter and Mr Hall’s response will be discussed by members of Ceredigion County Council’s Governance and Audit Committee on 3 June.