Bill Butler has been appointed as the new chair of Public Sector Audit Appointments (PSAA), succeeding Steve Freer.
Currently, Butler is the chair of Propertymark and is the non-executive director and chair of audit at Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care Board. He will officially start his role as the PSAA’s chair on 1 April.
Prior to this, Butler was a non-executive director and chair of the finance and investment committee at The Law Society. He has also previously worked as the head of finance at the Healthcare Commission and occupied senior roles at the Audit Commission.
On his appointment, Butler said: “I am very pleased to be joining PSAA. Local government and its auditors face significant challenges. I am looking forward to building on Steve’s achievements and working with all of our partners to help to deliver the timely assurance and certainty that is expected from public audit.”
Butler joins the PSAA at a critical time for local audit, with the backlog of unaudited council accounts at an all time high and an ongoing government consultation to “restore and reset” the system. The consultation closes next week and proposes a backstop date of 30 September 2024 to publish accounts for all outstanding years up to and including 2022/23.
Commenting on Butler’s appointment, Abi Brown, chair of the Improvement and Development Agency, said: “Bill will play a significant role with all of our key partners to make the sustainable improvements that are needed in both the short and medium term to public sector audit and in particular local government audit.
“I would also like to extend a huge thank you to Steve Freer who has done an outstanding job as the founding chair of PSAA over the last nine years.”
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