16 August (Part 1) - Why are we waiting?
I
don’t need to tell you that I am an old cynic when it comes to all levels of
government. Bexley’s so called independent auditor once told me that they had found the Council had been on the
fiddle and agreed that Court action might be appropriate. However the auditor refused to take action unless I
agreed to pay the legal costs and in response I have always assumed that they sign off accounts mainly to ensure that
next year’s contract will be retained.
Why else would the auditor throw Bexley Conservatives their headline grabbing
“it’s a Good News story” lifeline
a year after the skirmish with bankruptcy and just before an election?
But it is possible that unwavering support has its limits because a tip off said that last year’s
accounts are still not signed off nine months after the deadline.
Maybe there is a shortage of local manpower, Bexley’s Internal Audit team was
down to only four people in 2021 (FOI response) when they had oneSource
responsibilities too and things are unlikely to have improved since.
With such low staffing levels the Council probably relies totally on its external auditor.
The Audit Committee passed the 2021/22 accounts to the Director of Finance for signature
in reasonable time but he has not as yet cleared them for publication.
Is something rotten in the State of DA6? Its Chief Accountant has left his post and the Chief
Executive is about to take a leaf out of the same book.
Why?