Briefings and responses

Our key point in responding to this consultation is that any transitional arrangements for 2023, whether part of the formal scheme or supplementary, should be announced no later than autumn 2022 when the draft list and provisional multiplier are announced. This is in order to make the process as smooth as possible for both ratepayers and billing authorities and allow time for any necessary software changes.

The practice note includes a lot of technical detail that is primarily written for auditors and we have not previously commented on its content, or on recent consultations on changes to it. The reason we feel the need to comment this time is not because we have concerns over the approach taken by the Public Audit Forum to date, but because local audit is currently in crisis, and we would welcome any action that can be taken to help provide solutions that can alleviate the effects of the crisis.

We support making the IFRS 9 statutory override permanent or, as a minimum, extending for another five years.

With so many 2020/21 audits and several 2019/20 audits still incomplete due to the current crisis in local audit, the fees for 2022/23 still have to be set using incomplete information.

In our view, the proposals in the two consultations earlier this year were a valid attempt by CIPFA to alleviate some of the worst of the short-term problems, problems that are both a major aspect of the current crisis and a symptom of the long-term problems. It is therefore disappointing that it has not yet been possible to finalise a satisfactory outcome in response to those proposals. 

This response has been agreed by the LGA Resources Board.

This response has been agreed by the LGA Resources Board.

This submission makes the case to Government for a radical reinvestment in local and combined authorities that enables councils to turbo-charge local growth and create preventative public services that save money and improve the lives of some of the most vulnerable in our society.

Our response to the consultation in relation to the issue with the audit of council accounts relating to the valuation of infrastructure assets, we noted that this is an issue that adds to the problems being experienced by local audit.

Our Autumn Statement 2022 briefing summarises the key announcements for councils and provides an initial LGA view.