The chief finance officer for the London Borough of Waltham Forest has said he fears that problems within local audit could “damage” the reputation of councils.
John Turnbull, speaking at Room151’s FDs’ Summit, said: “I am a bit concerned about the reputation of local government. The fact that accounts never get audited, or that they appear in the public to not even comply with international accounting standards could damage us [local government].”
He told delegates that the audit delays could ultimately have “knock-on effects on the way local authorities govern, but more importantly, on what our residents think of our services”.
Only 9% of 2020/21 local authority audits were completed by the deadline of 30 September 2021. This figure had risen to 52% by the end of March 2022, but further progress has been affected by an issue involving the valuation of infrastructure assets.
Turnbull suggested that regulatory factors contributed to audit delays. He told delegates: “There seem to be too many statutory overrides and we don’t seem to be able to get the accounting code of practice correct.”
“All these problems combined are beginning to reflect on us [local government]”.
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