Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 15
15
Accepted
Increased use of unaudited data in 2020-21 WGA raises audit opinion concerns
Conclusion
HM Treasury also increased the use of unaudited data—data which has been audited only for presentation in the individual entity’s own accounts, rather than in OSCAR II format—in the 2020–21 WGA. We received written evidence from the ICAEW, which told us that the use of incompletely audited draft account data would almost certainly have led to the C&AG further qualifying his opinion on the 2020–21 WGA for a lack of assurance over the local authorities and other public bodies concerned. The ICAEW 17 WGA 2020–21, para 5, p 262, para 1.7, p 16, para 1.56, p 30 18 Committee of Public Accounts, Report of session: Whole of Government Accounts 2019–20, Twentieth Report of Session 2022–23, HC 31, 14 October 2022 19 WGA0003 Written evidence submitted by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, 10 November 2023 20 Qq 27–28, 47 21 Q 27 22 Q 27–28, 48 Whole of Government Accounts 2020–21 13 contended that the exclusion of these numbers harmed the WGA to a much greater extent than the inclusion of unaudited balances would do. It noted that excluding the figures would guarantee the materially incorrect nature of the final WGA balances on the basis that a nil value was certainly incorrect, whereas including draft data would mean only a potential inaccuracy.23 We asked the Treasury about the balance between using unaudited yet complete figures but producing the WGA in a more timely manner. The Treasury said that it was trying to get a “balance between timeliness, quality and the level of assurance we get as part of the Whole of Government Accounts”.24
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the committee's observation regarding the use of unaudited data in the WGA and is committed to proactively working with entities to ensure timely data collection, including draft data submissions, to balance timeliness, quality, and assurance for the Whole of Government Accounts.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
2.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2024 2.2 HM Treasury is committed to proactively working with all entities to ensure data is collected in a timely manner, and the department is proactively mitigating the risks around missing data. For example, HM Treasury requires bodies to submit draft data even if audited data is not available. HM Treasury is also regularly engaging with stakeholders at a senior level on the matter of unaudited local government statutory accounts, as per recommendation 3 below. 2.3 HM Treasury has run four separate webinars for local and central government preparers, that were attended by over 700 people. The aim of the webinars was to run through the data submission process and provide support for preparers across the different sectors. The department will continue to run webinars in the future. 2.4 HM Treasury is strengthening discipline in central government, including making timely WGA returns an explicit measure in the Accounting Officer end-of-year finance assessments. This has put more rigour and accountability into the system. HM Treasury also contact underlying entities on a regular basis to monitor progress and assist with any issues, escalating to Director level where required, to ensure continuous engagement. 2.5 HMT will continue to try to ensure that we capture as much data as possible across the public sector in WGA, regardless of whether or not it has been audited.