NAO to oversee new audit regime
Author: Public Servant - Sep 9, 2010
Value for money checks on local councils and other public bodies will be overseen by the National Audit Office, Eric Pickles has confirmed.
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government revealed last month that the Audit Commission – which had previously run the checking process – was to be abolished from 2012 and that councils would be allowed to appoint their own auditors.
The move came under fire from former communities secretary John Denham who claimed it would "recreate between local councillors and auditors the cosy, incestuous relationships that also failed Enron and, more recently, the banking system".
Denham said the proposals would put probity at risk and undermine the drive to achieve value for money.
And he pointed out that when the then local government minister Michael Heseltine created the Audit Commission in 1982, one of the reasons for doing so was to impose greater transparency by taking away the ability of councils to choose their own auditors.
Now, Pickles has unveiled plans for a strategic framework to be imposed on local authorities and other public bodies with a statutory regime operated jointly by the NAO and the audit profession.
The regime will include measures to ensure rotation of auditors to prevent the development of cosy relationships.
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