20 November (Part 2) - Pass the sodium chloride; lots of it
There
will be a meeting of Bexley Council’s Audit Committee this evening and I will
not be going to it. I used to go to them all but eventually realised that they
can be just a charade. You will hear the auditors which Bexley Council pays for
and who value their contract highly report that Bexley Council has done a thoroughly good job - whether they have or have not.
For the most part they probably do do a reasonable job. I remember one year when
Bexley’s accountants had made a minor cock-up but such things will happen from
time to time. No one is perfect, but the reason I stopped going is rather more serious than that.
When Bonkers was younger and had assistance with various things one of my then
associates looked very closely at Bexley Council’s accounting and found serious and very deliberate falsifications. I might have called it fraud,
Bexley’s internal auditor called it maladministration - many times over.
The auditors were very well aware of the serious maladministration and could
(should?) have prosecuted Bexley Council for it. They chose not to and told me if they were
to be brought to book I would have to privately prosecute the Council myself.
All the old Finance people have gone at both Officer and Cabinet level but when you see Bexley Council singing its own praises over its accountancy
practices it is always wise to take it with a large pinch of salt.
I have never made Bexley’s own audit available for public consumption, maybe I should have done. I still have a copy.
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