ICAEW supports plans for new local audit strategy

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has announced that it is in support of new plans for a local audit strategy and a local audit office.

The potential plans were outlined in the government’s devolution white paper and will look to “streamline local audit”.

Alison Ring, ICAEW director of public sector and taxation, stated that the body supports “the development of a clear vision for the local audit system”.

She believes that the changes should help improve the quality and understandability of local authority financial reports, the quality of external audits, and the value for money delivered by local authorities.

Ring said: “We are pleased that the government is proposing to overhaul the local audit system in England. The crisis in local audit has been building in recent years to a point where the timely publication by local authorities of audited financial statements – the cornerstone of local financial accountability – has become an exception rather than the rule.

“While the backstop process is a key step on the way to resolving the backlog of unaudited financial statements, it is important that more fundamental challenges facing local authority financial reporting and external audit are fully addressed so that local authorities can be properly accountable to local residents and their elected representatives.”