The local audit backlog is to be cleared through a bold programme of reforms, funding and moving several folders from the pile marked late to the pile marked strategically recovering.
Local audit enters the recovery maze
The government announced sixteen commitments and up to £49 million. This means every missing set of accounts can now enjoy its own commitment, with several left over for catering.
Clive Reconciliations, Permanent Secretary for Finding The Receipt, said: “Trust begins with transparency. Transparency begins with audited accounts. Audited accounts begin once Denise returns from annual leave and remembers the password.”
Therefore, a new Local Audit Office will unite functions currently spread across several bodies. Officials are confident that fragmentation can be solved by adding one more organisation for everyone to copy into emails.
The reforms also promise an early warning system. It will alert taxpayers when council finances are in trouble, ideally several years before a decorative roundabout receives its third bronze otter.
Meanwhile, hundreds of overdue audits must still be completed. Accountants have been issued high-visibility calculators and told to approach the backlog slowly, because sudden movements may cause 2021 to become current again.
By the next deadline, leaders expect the system to be fit, proper and decent. The books will then balance, provided nobody includes the cost of fixing the books.
Read the real story: the local audit reform announcement.
Ministers say this is a once in a generation opportunity to restore confidence. The generation that created the backlog has asked to be excused, as it is currently locating a supporting document last seen beneath a box marked urgent, 2018.
