30 March 2001
In Financial auditing and reporting: 1999-2000 general report of the comptroller and auditor general, published on March 28, Sir John Bourn noted there were improvements in the first published resource accounts for 1999/2000 from the 'dry run' of the previous year but said 'there is still much progress to be made'.
Four of the 39 departmental accounts certified by the statutory deadline of January 31 received qualified audit opinions and a further ten departments were 'unable to render a satisfactorily finalised account for audit'.
The tardy departments have received 'dispensations' and now have the non-statutory target of March 31, 2001 for certification.
Bourn said: 'I remain concerned at an over-reliance on too few key personnel and a lack of technically competent supporting staff in departments to prepare accounts.'
He added that he noticed a trend towards poor quality, late-submitted accounts.
The report also drew attention to the challenge facing government departments over corporate governance – how they manage their operations and funding.
Following the Turnbull report of 1999, the Treasury extended statements on the systems of internal control to cover operational as well as financial controls.
The report states that the extending of corporate governance posed challenges for government bodies which do not have direct control over expenditure (for example, cross-departmental programmes) or where third-party contractors carry out significant portions of their functions.
PFmar2001
