Local authority audit is broken, and just 4% of English councils were able to produce audited accounts for inclusion in the 2023-24 Whole Government Accounts, says the National Audit Office.
This, says the NAO, compares to 10% producing audits for 2022-23.
It means that for the second year in a row the Comptroller and Auditor General, Gareth Davies, has issued a disclaimed opinion for the 2023-24 WGA.
The WGA is a vital tool in the management and scrutiny of public spending, as it brings together all public sector assets and liabilities covering more than 10,000 departments, agencies and other government organisations.  
However, in England, of the 407 local authorities that should have submitted audited information into the WGA, 167 or 41% didn’t submit any data at all. A further 55%, or 224, submitted data based on unaudited accounts. Only 16 or 4% of English local authorities submitted adequate audited data.
