External news

The NAO has issued an Overview of the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) 2023/24 as part of their series of overviews for the new Parliament.

The FRC has published emerging findings on its study into the audit market for NHS providers and Integrated Care Boards. The study found that while most stakeholders considered the market to be functioning, there were issues raised which could risk future resilience. Similar to local government audits, some respondents raised concerns regarding potential constraints on […]

CIPFA has issued a guide for audit committee members that explains the local audit backstop arrangements in England. It covers key terms, dates, roles and responsibilities.

Many local bodies will receive modified or disclaimed audit opinions as a result of the government’s measures to tackle the backlog of local audits in England. The government has provided information which explains the context for these modified or disclaimed audit opinions, and to help ensure that local bodies are not unfairly judged. The policy […]

The FRC has approved the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy’s (CIPFA) Diploma in Local Audit as pre-approved local audit specialist training. This Diploma is the first FRC approved local audit specialist training for Key Audit Partner status applications. 

The FRC has published its annual report on the quality of major local audits, which sets out how it will continue to support the local audit system to recover from delays in the publication of audited accounts. The report follows the Government’s legislative measures in September 2024 to clear the backlog in local audit and rebuild […]

The NAO announced that the 2024 Code of Audit Practice (the Code) has completed its Parliamentary processes and is now in force: Code of Audit Practice. Together with the Accounts and Audit Amendment Regulations the Code supports the necessary first step of re-setting the local audit system in England.

The FRC issued a podcast on 15 November to discuss the measures introduced to address the backlog of local audits and how they will impact the audit process and the type of opinion issued.

CIPFA has published its Bulletin 18 Local audit backlog in England | CIPFA following legislation bringing into effect backstop dates for authorities in England to publish final accountability statements.  The bulletin provides guidance on what this will mean for local authority audits, in particular the types of modified opinions authorities may see and how auditors […]

The FRC has issued a guide on the Local Audit Backlog Rebuilding Assurance which explains how rebuilding assurance after a disclaimed opinion may work in practice on local government audits.