External news

The FRC has announced important revisions to the UK Corporate Governance Code to help enhance transparency and accountability. They have also issued supporting guidance notes.

Simon Hoare, Minister for Local Government, announced in a letter to Clive Betts, Chair of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Select Committee, the department’s intention to consult on proposals to set a backstop date of 30 September 2024. The backstop date will require local bodies to publish their audited financial accounts for all financial […]

The FRC has published an update to its Ethical Standard for auditors, effective from 15 December 2024. The update is a response to the FRC’s consultation that was carried out last year and closed on 31 October 2023.

On 17 July, Minister Rowley attended the latest LUHC Select Committee hearing for its inquiry into Financial Reporting and Audit in Local Authorities. The Committee has published the letter that the Minister sent in advance committees.parliament.uk/publications/40932/documents/199432/default/, which includes the latest position on proposals to address the significant backlog of local government audits in England. The letter […]

The Local Audit Liaison Committee met on 3 May and on 27 June. DLUHC will publish minutes for these meetings in the coming weeks. In the meantime the minutes for past meetings are available to view.

On 17 May CIPFA published supplementary guidance covering the impact of triennial valuation statements received for IAS19 Employee Benefits Reporting for financial statements for 2021-22 and earlier years, where opinions on those statements have yet to be issued – CIPFA Bulletin 14 Supplement | CIPFA.

On 31 May CIPFA issued a statement on the statutory financial reporting deadline for local government.

The NAO published a supplementary guidance note for auditors on 18 May – Considering the impact of the Local Government Pension Scheme 2022 Triennial Valuation. This is in relation to the pension valuation issue.

On 16 May the NAO issued the following guidance for audit committees – Quality assurance of models: a guide for audit committees..

On 24 April CIPFA published a major report on sustainability reporting in the public sector providing guidance, best practice and advice to help public sector bodies prepare sustainability reports – Public sector sustainability reporting: time to step it up.