Recommendation 9

The audit process provides a key element of assurance for financial planning, budgeting and management in local government bodies and accountability for £100 billion of spend, but this only works effectively when audit work is timely. We pressed the Department on the danger that late audits pose to highlighting risks in local authorities. The Department agreed these risks were real but highlighted other ways for auditors to sound the alarm sooner where the accounts are not closed.23 Examples include making a statutory recommendation to the audited body requiring a public response or issuing a Public Interest Report, as was the case at the London Borough of Croydon in October 2020.24