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<p>The Government does not require local authorities to complete audits of their accounts
in order to receive central government funding. However, there may be other conditions
attached to individual grants to ensure the funding is used for its intended purpose.</p><p>The
Accounts and Audit regulations 2015 (SI 234/2015) require councils to submit their
draft accounts for public inspection within certain deadlines and, once the public
inspection period is completed to approve them. The regulations also require the final
accounts to be published (currently by 30 November 2020) once signed off by the auditor
as complete. If the authority is unable to publish the completed accounts within the
specified deadline they are required to post a notice saying why they are not being
published. <br> <br>To help address the rising number of delayed audits and other
concerns with the local audit framework, we commissioned Sir Tony Redmond to review
arrangements supporting the effectiveness and quality of local authority financial
reporting and external audit within the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014. Sir
Tony published the outcome of his Review on 8 September and I am pleased to report
that we responded, accepting the majority of his recommendations on 17 December. The
report can be accessed at the following (attached) link: <a href="https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fpublications%2Flocal-authority-financial-reporting-and-external-audit-government-response-to-the-redmond-review&data=04%7C01%7CElsa.Esberger%40communities.gov.uk%7C697ddbd00aa545c94d7f08d8a5aa08bf%7Cbf3468109c7d43dea87224a2ef3995a8%7C0%7C0%7C637441496987923578%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=sAKO40m8F%2BJKySb5mJF6DIjaHvI4vFQ0F1e8jsd8mMo%3D&reserved=0"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-financial-reporting-and-external-audit-government-response-to-the-redmond-review</a></p>
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