A package of 16 commitments to reform the “fragmented and broken” English local audit system has been unveiled by local government minister Jim McMahon.
The Local Audit Office will not be able to force councils to amend their accounts in response to auditor concerns, the government has confirmed following fears over the body’s independence and...
The English local audit crisis means the government is “flying blind” and failing to monitor the worsening financial health of local authorities, according to an influential group of MPs.
More than 20 local bodies have still failed to publish audited accounts more than two months after the first backstop deadline despite a last-minute flurry of activity.
Simplifying local authority accounts could ease the audit crisis, but they must still retain meaning, writes CIPFA’s director of public financial management Iain Murray.
Fees for local government audits will rise by 9.5%, the body responsible for setting them has said while insisting measures to address the crisis in the system must make audit work more proportionate...
The overwhelming lack of reliable financial data submitted by the English local authority sector to the Whole of Government Accounts has led the comptroller and auditor general to disclaim his...
Urgent action is needed to repair arrangements for external audit that have “fundamentally failed”, as well as to overhaul the “wasteful, unfair and ineffective” local government funding system,...
New backstop dates for local government audits will clear the backlog in the next few years, as part of government efforts to solve the problems plaguing the system of assurance in the sector.
CIPFA LASAAC has announced it is changing its approach to the huge backlog of English local authority audits, because the planned ‘backstop’ system for outstanding audits has been disrupted by the...
The government’s mooted fix for the local audit backlog is being consulted on by the system leaders, with hopes of publishing more than 700 outstanding audits this year.
The government’s mooted solution to the local audit crisis needs to work, or the Whole of Government Accounts risks being stuck in poor quality for several years, a group of MPs has warned.
A lack of auditor capacity and complex accounting requirements worsened the local audit crisis and meant the Financial Reporting Council could only inspect four financial statements in 2022-23.
The local audit backlog could have “serious financial consequences” and avoiding any delays in clearing it should be a priority for the government, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England...
Signing off the mounting backlog of historical local authority audits could take up to five years as capacity issues restrict progress, an expert has told PF .
More than 900 local authority audit opinions are outstanding and the government must take urgent action to clear the swelling backlog, Public Sector Audit Appointments has said.
Qualified opinions on historical council accounts are likely if the government waives some reporting requirements as it strives for a “system reset”, which it currently plans to do, a senior civil...
Any hope of sustainably clearing the huge backlog in local government audit will fail unless the underlying issue of audit resources is fixed, a committee of MPs has said.
The high-profile failures of councils in Woking and Thurrock demonstrate the importance of a strong and well-understood local audit system, which has arguably been lost, two senior voices in the...
