21 May 2004
Scotland's deputy auditor general, Caroline Gardner, has been appointed controller of audit for the Accounts Commission, it was announced this week.
The commission, which audits the accounts of Scottish local authorities, is part of Audit Scotland, which also incorporates the office of auditor general Bob Black. Gardner takes over the controller post from Ronnie Hinds, who left earlier this year to become head of corporate finance at City of Edinburgh Council.
The controller's role is to make statutory reports to the Accounts Commission on issues that arise from local authority audits.
The appointment comes after management restructuring at Audit Scotland. This included the appointment of Hugh Hall, formerly director of corporate services with VisitScotland, to the new post of managing director of audit services.
The role of controller of audit was expanded last year to include reporting to the commission on the outcome of Best Value audits.
Until 2000, the controller was also regarded as chief executive of the Accounts Commission. This changed with the creation of Audit Scotland, and the role of making statutory reports as controller was combined with other senior management responsibilities in the new organisation.
Audit Scotland recently altered its structure so that the performance audit group, headed by Gardner, became responsible for all reporting to stakeholders, while the audit services group was responsible for reports to clients.
Gardner joined the Accounts Commission for Scotland in 1995 as director of health and social work studies. Immediately before this she was senior manager at the Audit Commission. She was appointed deputy auditor general for Scotland in 2000.
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