Spending watchdogs have singled out Birmingham City Council for censure after it failed to meet a deadline for delivering audited or unaudited financial accounts.

The news follows today’s publication by the Audit Commission of its annual ‘Auditing the accounts’ report for 2012/13.

The auditors found councils have improved the speed and quality of their financial reporting for the fifth successive year with 99% of councils and other local authorities – including fire and rescue bodies and police bodies presented timely financial accounts by 30 September.

This represents a 14% increase since the exercise first began in 2008/09, when 85% of local public bodies received an audit opinion by this date.

But the country’s largest local authority, Birmingham City Council, did not publish its accounts in either an audited or unaudited form by 30 September.

‘With all the resources it has to hand, it is especially disappointing to see the largest council in the country miss this deadline,’ said Marcine Waterman, the Commission’s controller of Audit.

In contrast, Oldham MBC was praised for again being the first council to have its audit opinion issued and to publish its audited accounts in May – the only council to do so in the five years the Commission has been collecting data on early information.

Cllr Abdul Jabbar, Oldham’s cabinet member for finance, said the importance of fast and swift accounting could not be underestimated, as it gave the council breathing space to double-check, communicate progress to stakeholders and overcome any obstacles that arose.

‘This is not just something to be proud of among Local Authority Finance Teams,’ said Cllr Jabbar. ‘This is good news for residents and businesses as it allows us to state how we are going to continue to deliver a regenerated borough and more effective services in the coming year, despite the funding challenges we face.’