Audit Commission chief slams councils over financial reporting

The Audit Commission has launched a powerful attack on the quality and timeliness of financial reporting by local government, claiming that it was “unacceptable” how long some councils take to publish audited accounts.

The Commission’s chief executive, Steve Bundred, said it had been concerned about local authorities’ financial reporting for some time.

In an open letter to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Bundred “named and shamed” the four councils that failed to have their accounts audited by 30 November. They were Ashfield District Council, Birmingham City Council, Brentwood Borough Council, Wycombe District Council. In the case of Brentwood and Wycombe, the auditor did issue an audit opinion on 10 December.

The Commission also named six councils that received a qualified opinion: Arun District Council, Bromsgrove District Council, Eastbourne Borough Council, Hertfordshire County Council, Oxford City Council and West Sussex County Council.

Calling in a letter to the Secretary of State for the setting of a legal deadline for finance officers to submit draft accounts for audit, Bundred said: “This is eight months after the end of the financial year to which (the accounts) relate. We think it is unacceptable that authorities should not have been able to give an audited account of their stewardship of public money to local taxpayers within this timescale.”

By law, local authorities must publish their accounts six months after the end of the financial year, but there is no statutory deadline for them to be submitted for auditing.

Bundred added: “The tone from the top sets the overall financial culture of an authority, and members should take a lead in emphasising the importance of timely, high quality financial reporting.”

Five authorities were praised for their early publication of audited accounts: City of London Corporation; the London Borough of Greenwich; Kent County Council; the London Borough of Wandsworth; and Transport for London.