Audit Commission demise

The ending of the Audit Commission progresses. For Southwark Council it means that the councils accounts will this year be audited by Grant Thornton.

This has resulted in a 43% reduction in the audit fee. Instead of being charged £552,990 by the Audit Commission in 2011/12 we’ll be charged £313,794 by Grant Thornton covering 2012/13.

It gets better. The Audit Commission took many months to complete their audit not even starting until after they’d audited others. Grant Thornton expect to have their draft completed by mid August. Not ideal or perfect but a big improvement.

With time and when Southwark is one day able to choose their own auditors we’ll move to auditing to match that of private industry. Where accounts are closed within 12 weeks of financial year end allowing everyone to then concentrate on the new financial year.

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