Frequently Asked Questions

What is the process for making auditor appointments?

PSAA has made appointments for the five-year appointing period from 2018/19 to 2022/23 for all bodies that had opted in before 31 December 2017. Details of the process can be found on our website. Appointments for bodies opting in after 31 December 2017 will be made on an individual basis using a similar process. In […]

Does the appointing person take on all auditor panel roles and therefore mitigate the need for there to be one in each individual authority?

Opting into the appointing person scheme removes the need for a body to set up an auditor panel. This is set out in the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 and the Local Audit (Appointing Person) Regulations 2015.

We are a new body, can we join the scheme?

A newly established principal local government body is able to opt in by giving notice to PSAA. The notice must confirm the body’s decision to opt in, and must specify the authority’s postal address. The body will become an opted-in authority for the remainder of the appointing period on the date the notice is received […]

Can an eligible local government body still opt in if it missed the deadline on 9 March 2017 for close of the current opt-in period?

A body that received an invitation to opt in for the five-year appointing period beginning 1 April 2018 but did not submit a formal notice of acceptance of the invitation before the close of the opt-in period is still able to opt in, but cannot do so until the start of the appointing period, on […]

We have a joint committee which no longer has a statutory requirement to have an external auditor but has agreed in the interests of all parties to continue to engage one. Is it possible to use this process as an option to procure the external auditor for the joint committee?

The requirement for joint committees to produce statutory accounts ceased after production of the 2014/15 accounts and they are therefore not listed in Schedule 2 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014. Joint committees that have opted to produce accounts voluntarily and obtain non-statutory assurance on them need to make their own local audit […]

Do the appointing person arrangements cover the audit of an authority’s pension fund where it is the administrative body responsible for preparing the pension fund accounts?

Pension funds are not separate legal entities from their administering local authority for audit, and are therefore not listed as relevant authorities in schedule 2 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014. The auditor appointment to an opted-in local authority includes the audit of the pension fund where the authority is the administering body. […]

In addition to the Code of Audit Practice requirements set by the NAO, will the contracts include the audit of wholly owned companies and group accounts?

Local authority group accounts are part of the accounts produced under the CIPFA SORP and are subject to audit in line with the NAO Code of Audit Practice. They will continue to be part of the statutory audit for which PSAA makes an auditor appointment for opted-in bodies. Local authority companies are not listed in […]

What is an appointing person and which bodies are eligible to opt in?

Public Sector Audit Appointments Limited (PSAA) has been specified as an appointing person under the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 and the Local Audit (Appointing Person) Regulations 2015, and has the power to make auditor appointments for audits of the accounts from 2018/19 on behalf of principal local government bodies that opt in, in […]