By Richard Johnstone | 12 December 2014
Auditor general Amyas Morse has given a clear audit opinion to the financial statement of the Courts and Tribunals Service for the first time due to significant improvements in its reporting on fines, penalties and confiscation orders.
According to the Courts and Tribunals Trust Statement, the service collected more than £518m in fines, penalties and confiscation orders during 2013/14.
Improvements in accounting in the year include the statement providing sufficient evidence in respect of all reported cash flows and balances, as well as backlogs related to the legacy fixed penalty systems being cleared. New systems also allowed the service to report accruals based-balances.
These changes allowed Morse to give an unqualified opinion on the service for the first time since the first trust statement was published in 2010/11.
The service plans to make significant changes to the systems supporting fines and confiscation orders in the next few years, alongside the outsourcing of its enforcement and recovery operations. Management will need to ensure these changes continue to support a robust financial reporting process, the audit stated.
