Independent report

Local authority financial reporting and external audit: independent review

Independent review by Sir Tony Redmond into the effectiveness of external audit and transparency of financial reporting in local authorities.

Applies to England

Documents

Independent review into the oversight of local audit and the transparency of local authority financial reporting

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Annex 1: What are auditors required to do?

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Annex 2: Roles and duties of statutory officers

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Annex 3: Functions of the Office of Local Audit Regulation

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Annex 4a: Illustrative simplified financial statement - district council

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Annex 4b: Illustrative simplified financial statement - fire and rescue authority

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Annex 4c: Illustrative simplified financial statement - police and crime commissioner

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Annex 4d: Illustrative simplified financial statement - unitary authority

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Annex 5: Potential impact of recommendations made by other reviews of audit

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Annex 6: Approach of other state auditors to performance audit

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Annex 7: Terms of reference

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Annex 8: Call for views respondents

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Details

This independent review, led by Sir Tony Redmond at the invitation of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, considered the effectiveness of external audit and transparency of financial reporting in local authorities.

The final report makes a number of recommendations in relation to:

  • external audit regulation
  • smaller authorities audit regulation
  • financial resilience of local authorities
  • transparency of financial reporting

Alongside the report, we have published a number of annexes intended to further inform the reader.

The government’s response to the review was published on 17 December 2020

Published 8 September 2020