England’s local government bodies have been praised for the improved quality of their financial reporting by the Audit Commission.

In Auditing the Accounts 2011/12, the Audit Commission finds that only 46 of England’s 472 principal bodies failed to publish their audited 2011/12 accounts by the 30 September deadline.

Oldham Council is highlighted by the report for publishing its final accounts three months ahead of the deadline, the first local authority to publish its audited accounts in June since 2009.

While a month behind Oldham, Transport for London was lauded for publishing its audited accounts on 20 July.

However Birmingham City Council is shown to be one of only three principal bodies where the auditor has yet to issue an opinion on the accounts, with section 11 statutory recommendations having been made relating to the production of its 2010/11 accounts.

The Audit Commission has emphasised the importance of such timely account presentations and states that it remains a positive reflection on local governance.

The Audit Commission’s controller of audit, Marcine Waterman, said: ‘This annual audit process gives essential assurance to the relevant government departments that funds distributed to local public bodies have been safeguarded and accounted for properly. The Draft Local Audit Bill currently makes no provision for the collection, collation and reporting of the results of the audit process as a national whole. Government should consider how it will gather and publish this information in future.’

Oldham Council’s cabinet member for finance, human resources and strategic partnerships, cllr Abdul Jabbar, said: ‘As a co-operative council it’s vital that we build trust and maximise what we achieve with pressurised budgets for our residents who entrust us with their money. To do that you need robust accounts that give you greater confidence in the quality of your financial information and help you to make better value for money decisions.’