Auditing the auditors: more worrying public spending cuts

The Audit Commission, the watchdog on public services, is to be cut, as announced on Friday. The independent commission is currently responsible for scrutinising local governments spending and performance.

Eric Pickles, the communities secretary, announced that this cut would save government £50m a year, but can we really afford to be without the Audit Commission?

As well as causing a huge loss of jobs in the auditing and risk management sector, the transfer of the audit’s work to the National Audit Office will surely involved a loss of integrity. This is a time to focus in on where money and services are going on the ground level, and despite an overall saving; this cut will generate a risk to the collection of this information.

The commission currently carries out a variety of housing functions, so this news has caused the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) to ask for clarification on the impact the cut will have on the sector. Sarah Webb, CIH chief executive, said:

“Both landlords and tenants have benefited from real improvements driven on the back of Audit Commission work over the past decade.” (‘CIH seeks 'urgent information' from Pickles on Audit Commission closure’)

In the announcement, Pickles proposed that councils should choose between local private firms to take over the auditing services, without making it clear that these firms will be accountable to the public, therefore needing auditing themselves. Who is going to fill this gap? Although this cut may provide an initial saving, it seems that auditing will become an expensive myriad in the long run, making the benefits of scrapping the Audit Commission short lived.

17th August

Amy Hannington is a Research Assistant at PARN (Professional Associations Research Network).
PARN is a not-for-profit, membership organisation for professional bodies. PARN’s main areas of expertise are research and consultancy services, provided not only for our members, but for other professional bodies and organisations interested in the field of professionalism.

To contact Amy email amy@parnglobal.com or call +44 (0)117 928 1991.