Your Right to Inspect the Council's Accounts

If you are a local elector (that is, if you are entitled to vote in elections for members of the District of Easington) you have certain legal rights, which allow you to inspect the council’s accounts, to ask questions about them or to challenge them. The information below explains what these rights are, and how they can be exercised.   

The Council’s external auditor can be contacted at the address below, or the Council Offices:   

Audit Commission
2nd Floor,
Nickalls House,
Metro Centre,
Gateshead,
Tyne and Wear.    NE11 9NH   

About this service

The role of external auditors

The Audit Commission appoints external auditors to review the financial affairs of every local authority. The external auditors are required to certify their opinion on whether or not the council’s accounts "present fairly the financial position" of the Council. This means that they have to decide whether the Statement of Accounts produced by the council is a complete and accurate record of the financial transactions which have happened during the year, whether any significant estimates made are reasonable, and whether the law and accounting codes of practice have been followed. 

The right to inspect the accounts

Once the Council has produced its statement of accounts, the statement must be made available for local voters to inspect. The end of the financial year is 31st March, and the accounts are usually completed by the end of July. Councils have to advertise to tell local people that the accounts can be inspected, and  District of Easington usually does this by placing an advertisement in the Northern Echo at least two weeks before the accounts will be ready for inspection. The advertisement gives details of the dates, times and place where you can look at the accounts.   

The accounts are available for inspection for 20 working days. During this time, as a local elector you can inspect the accounts and any public interest reports issued by the external auditors. You can also make copies, or request copies to be delivered to you. (The council is allowed to make a reasonable charge for supplying copies.)   

Asking the externals auditors questions about the accounts

Once you have inspected the accounts, you have the right to ask the Council’s external auditors questions about them. The advertisement, which lets people know that the accounts are available for inspection, will also explain when and how questions can be put to the auditors.   

The right to ask the auditors questions relates specifically to the accounts. If you have any questions about the Council’s policies, finances or procedures unconnected with the accounts, you should address them directly to the Council.   

Questions to the auditors can only be about facts relating to specific items in the accounts. The auditors do not have to give their opinion on whether an item in the accounts, or anything else that the Council has done, is lawful or reasonable. In order to protect their independence, the auditors are not obliged to give any information to the public on how they carry out their work.   

Making objections to the accounts

The law also gives local electors the right to object to specific items, which are included in (or missing from) the accounts. Under this law, you or your representative can make an objection to the accounts if you think that:   

• An item in the accounts is unlawful (an item would be unlawful if the Council had no legal right to spend or receive the money, if the money was spent or received without the necessary authority, or if income or expenditure was included in the wrong fund or account);   
• An amount which should have been included in the accounts has not been included;   
• A person has deliberately caused a loss to the Council, which should be repaid; or     
• There is a matter, which you think that the auditor should discuss with the Council or tell the public about in a public interest report.            

If you want to make an objection, you must first send a formal "notice of objection" in writing to the external auditor, and send a copy of this notice to the Council. The notice of objection must explain the grounds on which the objection is being made. You will then be given the opportunity to explain your objection in person to the auditor. The auditor must then come to a decision on the objection. In the case of the first three types of objection described above, if you are not happy with the auditor’s decision you can appeal to the courts. However, no legal appeal can be made against an auditor’s decision not to issue a public interest report.   

Giving information to the auditor at other times

If you think that there is information, which the auditor should have in relation to their responsibilities, you can contact the auditor at any time without having to follow particular procedures. For example, you could tell the auditor if you think that there is something wrong with the accounts or that there is unnecessary waste or inefficiency in the way the Council runs one of its services. The auditor would not be required to give any details about the action they have taken, but would usually tell you the overall outcome.