Council accounts get the nod (From Thurrock Gazette)

Council accounts get the nod

2:00pm Saturday 29th September 2012 in News

THURROCK Council’s accounts have been given a “clean bill of health”.

The council’s accounts for 2011-12 were signed off last week, before the end of September deadline, and for the first time since 2007-2008, they were given an unqualified rating from auditors.

For the last few years, the council’s accounts have been qualified, meaning the auditors had reservations about the authority’s financial statements.

Leader of the council, John Kent, said: “It’s taken us two years of hard work to sort out the financial mess we inherited.

“Last year there were comments and snide remarks as we struggled to get the 2010-11 finances agreed, but the reason was simple.

“We were still struggling to understand the muddle we had been left with – we were trying to untangle the clutter and confusion of previous years and at the same time present a coherent set of figures to our auditors.

“Unfortunately the council’s accounts have been qualified since 2007-08, as long as the external auditor has been required to provide an opinion on value for money.

“This is actually the first time we’ve got a clean bill of health from the auditors.”

He added: “This leaves no doubt that the council is improving and is being recognised as improving.

“It means we can now say with confidence that as from last year Thurrock’s council tax payers are receiving value for money from their local authority.

“I would like to thank our finance team and members of the audit committee, especially its chairman Cllr Tunde Ojetola who signed the accounts on Thursday, for all their hard work.”