Ms Niamh Larkin:

On issues that arise in each local authority, we ask that local government auditors comment on certain things in each audit report. We always ask that financial standing is commented on and we always ask that income collection is commented on. Those are massive areas in a local authority. The transfer to Irish Water is another and then we ask for consideration of governance arrangements around internal audit, audit committees and local authority companies. Outside those areas, the local government auditor can deal with the issues he or she feels are relevant. There are items that occur in many local authorities, simply by virtue of their nature. For example, fixed assets, procurement and purchasing will usually appear. Usually, there is something in the area of unfunded balances or development contributions. One sees those in the majority of audit reports. That is simply the nature of the topics.

I was asked about budgeting. We look at the budgets local authorities prepare each year and then we look at the actual turn out compared to budget. Looking at how local authorities go about preparing their budgets is outside our remit. However, I would have thought finance would have built up a great deal of knowledge on what comes in. Those people are working with the different Departments that award the grants and would have a history there.

While it was not in the area of LPT, one of the special reports we prepared was on properties not being captured for rates, to which the Vice Chairman has just referred. There are properties also awaiting valuation, which means there is a loss of income to the local authority. We looked at that area. LPT is a policy matter and we only look at how accurately it is reflected in the financial statements. On LPT and properties being revalued, we look only at how the policy is implemented.