PSAA…
- is the Government’s choice to run this vital national scheme
- has a specialist, experienced team who will use their expertise and sector knowledge to make transparent and independent auditor appointments
- aims to procure an audit service of the required quality at a realistic market price and support the drive towards a long-term competitive and more sustainable market for local audit
- is very familiar working with the complexities of the evolving local audit framework and regulations when managing contracts with audit firms, and setting and determining audit fees
- is a not-for-profit organisation whose costs are around 2% of the total scheme costs. Any surplus is distributed back to scheme members
- independently assesses proposed fee variations, authorising billing only when satisfied that the proposal is justified and in line with the requirements of the statutory regulations
- is an active member of the Local Audit Liaison Committee, chaired by the FRC and attended by key local audit stakeholders. This enables us to feed in body and audit perspectives to decisions about changes to the local audit framework, and the need to address timeliness through actions across the system
- conducts research to raise awareness of local audit issues, and works with DLUHC and other stakeholders to enable changes arising from Sir Tony Redmond’s Review, such as more flexible fee setting and a timelier basis to set scale fees
- issues e-bulletins that provide updates on developments across the local audit system to seek to address the well-documented challenges
Joining the scheme…
- is we believe the best option for securing the appointment of a qualified, registered auditor in the current challenging market, where there are only ten registered suppliers (as at February 2024)
- avoids the need to undertake an auditor procurement and ongoing contract management activities (e.g. fee variation management), saving local time, effort and cost. This includes removing the need to establish an Auditor Panel with an independent chair to oversee a local procurement and contract management
- is the most efficient solution for the sector. A collective procurement is much less time-consuming for bodies and for auditors than a multiplicity of local, smaller procurements
- gives you free access to our Local Audit Quality Forum events on key topics
And finally, please note that…
- the scope of local audit is fixed, as it is defined by statute and by accounting and auditing codes. It would be the same under any local procurement as under PSAA’s procurement
- some typical services contract levers such as penalties for late delivery cannot be applied to an audit services contract, as fees calculated based on a specified outcome (e.g. specific date completions) are classified as contingent fees, not allowed under the FRC’s Ethical Standard
For further information please contact generalenquiries@psaa.co.uk.