Councils reject 'impenetrable accounts' claim

摘要

Criticism of'long and impenetrable' local authority accounts has sparked a debate in the sector. Auditor Grant Thornton's local government governance review said accounts often had an 'unwieldy size and confusing nature'. The review said there was 'limited evidence' that people were aware of local authority annual accounts and even less that they valued them. It read: 'The duty to communicate with the public on finance and governance continues to be treated largely as a compliance exercise rather than as an opportunity to engage meaningfully on these important areas.' But a former finance manager at Rochdale BC, Geoff Winterbottom, who is now principal research officer at the Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities, pointed out that making accounts user-friendly had an additional cost. Mr Winterbottom said: 'If you want short, simple versions you would still have to prepare those accounts. My view is that the process of preparing the financial accounts is what's important.