Play it like Elvis

Cornwall Council has an Audit Committee which provides a regular stream of data to the Audit Commission. It's a notoriously unglamorous area - but it's a bean-counters' paradise, cross-referencing ledger entries and chasing down receipts. Without it we'd have no idea if the council was providing value for money.

So I'm sure the cabinet member for Corporate Support, Jim Currie, will be grateful to the Audit Committee for drawing the following information to our attention:

After more than 45 audit days, we now know that the financial information management systems in his department, in respect of cash, receipts and banking, are officially "poor." What this means is that there are

"no effective internal controls and there is serious exposure to risk."

Much of this is due to the transition period which oversaw the creation of the new unitary council as the old district councils were abolished. Staff are to receive special training to combat money laundering, tracing transactions before April 2009 and in the recording of discrepancies.

Corporate Support is a hugely important council directorate, responsible for hiring and firing the 21,000 staff and managing (currently, "selling") the property portfolio. A variation of just one per cent in the accuracy of the audit could cost taxpayers millions of pounds. There is no evidence that money has gone astray. A "poor" audit means there is not much evidence of anything.

As Elvis Presley used to say: "I have no use for bodyguards, but I have very specific use for two highly trained certified public accountants."