Recommendation 22

Statutory overrides, namely requirements introduced by legislation that override standard accounting practice, are not aligned with the intended purposes of local authority accounts. Some statutory overrides can be beneficial by reducing the complexity of the accounts, but many add new requirements to the disclosures in the accounts. Additional requirements in the accounts added by statutory overrides do not contribute to the value or usefulness of those accounts, but they make the accounts more complex, less understandable, and thus less useful for supporting local democracy and accountability.