top stories

Share

Legislative Competence
(NIA Bill 6/00)

Comments from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants
November 2000

Summary

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) endorses the purposes of the Government Resources and Accounts Bill of the Northern Ireland Assembly, which are to:

• introduce accruals accounting to government departments and their agencies
  
  
• produce consolidated accounts for the whole of the public sector
  
  and
  
  
• enable government departments and their agencies to adopt modern accounting and business practices.

ACCA does not have any specific concerns about the Bill's provisions nor does it believe that there are any serious omissions from the Bill, as it appears sufficiently flexible to accommodate new developments. We do believe, however, that the Bill should address the issue that the accounting officer should be a qualified accountant. As a follow-up to the Bill, ACCA would like to see subsequent regulations dealing with quality of life performance measures for the public sector.

1. Introduction

1.1 ACCA is pleased to have been invited by the Committee for Finance and Personnel of the Northern Ireland Assembly to comment on the draft Government Resources and Accounts Bill. ACCA has considered the draft Bill together with the explanatory memorandum and the guide to submitting written evidence. ACCA would be willing to give oral evidence if invited.

1.2 ACCA is the second largest of the UK-based accountancy bodies. We currently have some 250,000 members and students, with examinations conducted in more than one hundred countries around the world. ACCA is one of the six member bodies of the UK & Ireland's Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (CCAB) and is a statutory licensing and regulatory authority in the UK in respect of company auditors, insolvency practitioners and investment advisers.

1.3 The Bill has been considered by ACCA's Public Sector Technical Issues Committee; members are drawn from across the public sector. Committee members are professional Chartered Certified Accountants with considerable experience of public sector practice; members' personal details are listed as Appendix A for information.

2. Comments on the Bill

2.1 ACCA agrees with the purpose of the Bill. We believe that the proposed legislation will enable government departments and their agencies to rationalise the diverse range of reporting practices which have evolved throughout the public sector in order to:

• prepare estimates and accounts on an accruals basis and hence account for resources consumed, as opposed to cash spent, in a given period
  
  
• consolidate the accounts of the public sector, narrowing the areas of difference between reporting entities in the public and private sectors
  
  
• bring modern private sector accounting practices and techniques into the planning and control of public expenditure.

2.2 ACCA does not have any specific concerns about the Bill's provisions. Although we do not wish to provide a detailed commentary on the Bill, we do wish to record our support for the following provisions, which we regard as particularly significant:

• the provision in clause 3(6): Payment out of the Consolidated Fund to enable implementation of modern e-business processes, such as IT-based systems for the authentication and transmission of payments
  
  
• the provision in clause 6(5): Appropriation in aid, to allow departments to retain and apply resources received in the year for the service of the year, thereby circumventing potential problems of timing differences between the recognition of resources and the actual receipt of cash
  
  
• the provisions in Clause 7: Resource accounts - preparation, which empower the Department to require that resource accounts present a true and fair view, having regard to any relevant guidance issued by the ASB or any other body prescribed for the purposes of the Companies Act 1985
  
  
  and
  
  
• the requirement in Clause 11: Resource Accounts - non-departmental bodies and other persons, that such persons whose estimates are approved by the Assembly will be required to prepare resource accounts.

2.3 We do not believe that there are any serious omissions from the Bill, although, we should like to see the following issues specifically addressed.

• Clause 7 of Departmental accounts and Clauses 12 and 13 of Whole of government accounts appear sufficiently flexible to allow the Department of Finance and Personnel to develop performance statements for the public sector. In due course, ACCA would like to see subsequent regulations introducing 'quality of life' performance statements encompassing sustainable development and the social, economic and environmental issues for the wellbeing of citizens.
  
  
• Clause 7(6): Resource accounts - preparation and 13(5): Whole of government accounts - obtaining information, require the DFP to appoint accounting officers to be responsible for the preparation of resource accounts and their transmission to the Comptroller and Auditor General. ACCA believes that the Bill should specify that the accounting officer is to be a qualified accountant.

2.4 ACCA acknowledges the statement of the Minister of Finance and Personnel (made under section 9 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998) that "the Government Resources and Accounts Bill would be within the legislative competence of the Northern Ireland Assembly". We do not see any reason why the Bill should not fulfil the legislative competence requirement of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Appendix A

Public Sector Technical Issues Committee Members

Details of Members and Secretary

Chairman
Dennis Yeates: Deputy Director of Finance, Worcestershire Community NHS Trust, ACCA Council Member and member of ACCA Financial Reporting Committee.

Vice Chairman
Heather Jackson: Director of Finance, HM Land Registry, member of the Financial Reporting Advisory Board (FRAB) and member of ACCA Business Law Committee.

Chris Angell: Fund Secretary & Financial Controller, LRT Pension Fund.

Paul Bailey: Consultant and member of ACCA Charities Panel (Chairman), and Financial Reporting Committee.

Sharon Burd: Corporate Director (Finance and Resources), Watford Council.

Robert Collins: Assistant Chief Executive, Stoke-on-Trent City Council.

Alex Colyer: Assistant Treasurer, Milton Keynes Council.

Vicki Harris: Head of Private Investment Policy Department, Department for International Development and ACCA Council Member.

Ian Jamieson: Chief Accountant, West Wiltshire District Council.

Rowan Jones: Professor, Department of Accounting & Finance, University of Birmingham.

Maurice Pendlebury: Professor of Accounting, Cardiff Business School, the University of Wales.

Mike Schofield: Head of Finance, Brighton & Hove PCG & Ouse Valley PCG (East Sussex, Brighton & Hove Health Authority), member of ACCA Financial Reporting Committee and the Social and Environmental Technical Issues Committee.

David Skelton: Head of Finance, Hart District Council.

Dean Westcott: Assistant Director Finance, North Essex Health Authority.

Barrie Woodcock: Partner, RBW Associates.

Secretary
Georgina Ayling: ACCA Senior Technical officer- Public Sector.

Back to top