What is the Audit Commissions role in relation to local authorities?
122. The Audit Commission appoints the external auditors who are responsible for auditing all local authorities. The Audit Commission’s written evidence states that these auditors: have a responsibility to satisfy themselves that the audited body has put in place proper arrangements to secure economy, efficiency and effectiveness in its use of resources, in accordance with criteria specified by the Commission. These arrangements are defined by the statutory Code of Audit Practice to include the audited body’s arrangements for managing its financial and other resources, including arrangements to safeguard the financial standing of the audited body.[149] 123. As the Audit Commission’s supplementary evidence points out, its work is necessarily retrospective, because the auditors focus on a local authority’s annual accounts, and the financial management system and processes that were used during that year.[150] The appointed auditors cannot and do not advise on a local authority’s treasury
