Reading Borough Council’s (RBC) 2017/18 accounts will finally be available for public inspection next week, more than a year late.

The accounts will be available for viewing between Monday, August 12, and Friday, September 20.

RBC’s 2018/19 accounts are expected to follow shortly after.

The National Audit Office guidance states that councils must make accounts available for public inspection in a common period with other local authorities.

For larger authorities such as RBC, this is usually in June and July.

The 2017/18 accounts were supposed to be made available for inspection last summer while the 2018/19 accounts were due in June.

RBC’s long-delayed 2016/17 accounts were finally given the seal of approval by auditor EY last month, with two qualifications.

External auditors were unable to verify the accounts due to historic failures by the council to meet good accounting practice and control standards.

RBC spent more than £435,000 getting the 2016/17 accounts signed off.

This is an additional spend of at least £327,000 compared to the originally anticipated fee of £108,938.

Councillor Jason Brock, leader of the council, expressed his relief at the progress after the accounts were signed off.

He said: “I am pleased we have now got to the point we have. It is tremendously frustrating it has taken so long.

“The whole process has given us the opportunity to correct the technical issues. We knew the process of putting it right would incur additional costs.”

READ MORE: Concerns over lack of audit staff at West Berkshire Council

The 2017/18  accounts and other documents will be available for inspection at the council offices between 930am and 430pm on weekdays.

Any person interested may inspect and make copies of the accounts of RBC for the year ending March 31 2018, including all books, deeds, contracts, bills, vouchers and receipts relating to those accounts.

Some documents containing personal or commercially-privileged information may not be available for inspection.

There will also be the opportunity for electors to question EY about the accounts.

Full details of how to apply to view the accounts are available here.