Audit and accounts: New regs increase public exposure

Time for section 151 officers in England to lay the table and set aside a couple of pleasant prandial hours with their accounting assistants – there is a new set of accounts and audit regulations that needs to be feasted upon.

The regulations play an important role in setting the responsibilities of the section 151 officer and how they are to be carried out.  The new version updates the current framework for the requirements of local audit and will apply from the 2015/16 financial year at the earliest.

Small but intricately formed, they are an essential read for financial administrators.  For starters, though, enjoy this selection of bonne bouchée:

• The Regulation reaffirm the section 151 officer’s responsibilities for determining an authority’s accounting records and financial control systems and ensuring that the records are kept up to date and the systems are observed.

• The date for certification of the unaudited accounts is to be brought forward to 31 May from 2017/18 (ie, a month earlier than currently required) and there will be a requirement to publish the unaudited accounts.  You have two years to hone your accounts prep arrangements so that the new deadline will be achievable and to a quality justified by the increased exposure to public scrutiny.

• The deadline for final publication of the accounts has been converted into a target but moved forward to 31 July for 2017/18 (a two month acceleration).  It will be a huge challenge for auditors to reschedule year-end work to fit this timetable – make sure you are at the head of the queue to ask for their commitment to timely working and the provision of an appropriately expert and experienced audit team.

• Avoid upsetting your internal auditors, though: members and officers will now be required to make available any document and provide any information or explanations that a person conducting an internal audit considers necessary.  Careful thought will be needed as to how internal audit’s application of this right is to be managed.

• Elector’s rights and those of other interested parties have been substantially altered.  The period for inspection of the authority’s accounting records and supporting records has been extended from 20 working days to 30.  The period is to commence when the unaudited accounts are ready for publication, but must include the first 10 working days of July (2015/16 and 2016/17) or June (2017/18 onwards).  This latter provision is intended to facilitate a fervent national festival of public inspection. Glastonbury, you have competition.

• The notice of public rights is replaced by a statement that is issued with the publication of the unaudited accounts.

• Electors’ rights to question the auditor and make objections will lapse at the end of the inspection period.  These rights currently remain live right up to the date that the audit is certified closed.

• There is a new requirement for a narrative report to accompany the statement of accounts, featuring comment by the authority on its financial performance and economy, efficiency and effectiveness in its use of resources.  Further detailed guidance can be expected on the scope and contents of the narrative report.

Plenty to get your teeth into, but make sure that you have cleared your plate before the auditors arrive to do the washing up in twelve months’ time.