The Accounts and Audit Regulations 1996

UK Statutory Instrument 1996 No. 590 — creates 1 criminal offence.

1offences created

0recorded in force

1revoked

Made: 5 March 1996
In force from: 1 April 1996
Extent: Not stated
Subject: Education, social security, pensions and public services
Made under: Local Government Finance Act 1982

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — published with the instrument by the department that made it. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

These Regulations, made under section 23 of the Local Government Act 1982, make provision with respect to the accounts and the audit of bodies whose accounts are required to be audited in accordance with Part III of that Act (other than health service bodies and Passenger Transport Executives) and to the accounts of an officer of such bodies to which Part III is applied by section 25 of that Act. The Regulations supersede the Accounts and Audit Regulations 1983, as amended, which, together with amending Regulations, are revoked from 1st April 1997. Changes from the 1983 Regulations contained in these Regulations include the requirement for a parish or community with a budgeted income of £500,000 or more for a period to prepare a statement of accounts for that period (regulation 6(4)), and for a parish or community with a budgeted income for a period of £5,000 or more up to £500,000 to prepare an income and expenditure account and a balance sheet for that period. (regulation 7(3)). Other changes are to the requirements for accounting records and control systems in regulation 4, the system of internal audit in regulation 5, the content of the statement of accounts (regulation 6(1)), and for the statement of accounts, income and expenditure account and a balance sheet or record of receipts and payments, as appropriate, to be approved by a committee of, or all the members of, the relevant body (regulation 8(2)). In addition, the Regulations provide that where an auditor’s report requires amendments to the statement of accounts, income and expenditure account or record of receipts and payments, on conclusion of the audit these documents should be available for inspection either revised as required, or together with an explanation of the amendments required. Regulation 10 contains a requirement for certain local authorities, and other bodies, to publish specified information relating to their accounts. The information is set out in the Schedule to the Regulations and relates to the cost of work falling within specified activities which are defined activities for the purposes of Part I of the Local Government Act 1988. These authorities and bodies are also required to include one item of the information in their statement of accounts. The contravention of certain provisions in the Regulations is declared to be an offence. The way in which auditors are required to carry out their functions under Part III of the 1982 Act is prescribed in the Code of Audit Practice prepared by the Audit Commission for Local Authorities and the National Health Service in England and Wales, in pursuance of section 14 of that Act. Copies of the Code are available from the Commission at 1, Vincent Square, London SW1P 2PN.

Offences created by this instrument

It is hereby declared that contravention of any of the provisions specified in paragraph (2) is an offence regulation 19(1) · Revoked · Strict liability

What Parliament said about it

Contributions, debates and written statements mentioning this instrument by name. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

Greater London Authority Bill Lords · Lords Chamber · 1 July 1999 · Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton
The amendments deal with the contents of the annual reports of Transport for London, and some of the procedures for dealing with its budget and annual audit. I hope that I shall be able to persuade Members of the Committee that they are unnecessary and, indeed, that they could even be unhelpful. The Bill already ensures that TfL will be covered by the Accounts and Audit Regulations 1996. Under Regulation 9, TfL will have to publish its accounts, "as soon as reasonably possible after conclusion of an audit, or nine months from the day following the end of the period to which the accounts in…
Parish And Town Councils Commons · Westminster Hall · 19 March 2002 · Dr. Whitehead
The Government acknowledge that several different audits should apply to parishes and recognise that it is inappropriate for the same scrutiny to apply to parish councils and principal authorities—scrutiny should relate to the risk identified. We are, therefore, working closely with the Audit Commission to introduce a lighter-touch audit regime for parish and town councils. The commission has already undertaken extensive consultation on proposed changes to parish council audits and the intention is that the majority of parish councils will undergo a basic audit relying on self-certification.…

How Parliament handled it

Parliament's Statutory Instruments service records procedure from May 2017 onwards, and this instrument predates it. That is a limit of the source, not a statement that nothing happened.

Check the source

This instrument on legislation.gov.uk The authoritative text, including amendments made since
Other instruments from 1996