Bean counters lose their marbles

You don't have to plunge too deeply into Cornwall Council's annual statement of accounts before the first headline-grabber smacks you in the eye: the old district councils over-inflated valuations on their property assets by £23 million.

"In five of the six districts, the valuations were out of line with auditors expectations, based on an independent survey undertaken for the Audit commission. This resulted in those districts receiving technical qualifications (due to limitation of scope) on their accounts. Those valuations have indeed been revalued downwards, by approximately £23m. The change in the valuations has been reflected by way of an adjustment to the asset values brought in from the district councils into the opening balance sheet."

In standard English, this means we're £23 million worse off than the we thought we were.