Speed of accounts put council in credit

Councillor Abdul Jabbar

OLDHAM Council has beaten its own record for closing its final accounts in super quick time.

The final accounts for 2014-15 were approved on May 19 at the Audit Committee — seven days faster than last year when the council was hailed as the quickest local government body to publish its accounts in half a century.

Draft accounts were given to external auditors on April 14, the fastest in the country, and again three days faster than last year.

But the key focus in preparing the accounts is not speed — it is their quality and accuracy that is essential to future financial planning and prudence for the council and taxpayers.

In its report, external auditors Grant Thornton said the draft accounts and working papers were of a “high quality” and that finance staff responded promptly to all queries.

The auditors’ value for money assessment also gave the council its best-ever rating with every aspect assessed as “green”’ including — for the first time — borrowing.

Councillor Abdul Jabbar, cabinet member for finance and HR, said: “Our finance team’s reputation in this area is unmatched within the public sector in recent years and we set out each time to improve on the previous year.

“These are our best-ever set of accounts in terms of their accuracy and that gives our council taxpayers assurance that we have effective arrangements in place to manage the public purse with a level of scrutiny that also confirms we are getting value for their money.

“In an era when the challenge of balancing our books becomes more difficult each year it is to the great credit of our finance team that they continue to raise the bar and work tirelessly to deliver accounts that aren’t just speedy but probably unparalleled in terms of their accuracy.”