External auditing arrangements of smaller authorities in England

Less complex entities (LCEs) make a critical contribution to the public, private and voluntary sectors in England and internationally and account for the great majority of all local public audits. Recently, the role and objectives of financial reporting and external auditing in England have been subject to unprecedented criticism through a number of independent national reports. This paper discusses the auditing arrangements for LCEs in the public sector in England by examining the evidence generated by the local public audit review by Sir Tony Redmond. It discusses implications for the local public audit regime and considers whether the existing and proposed accountability and transparency arrangements are compatible with the new International Standard on Auditing (ISA) for LCEs. It contributes to the limited research on the new ISA for LCEs by investigating the differences and similarities between the new ISA for LCEs and the emerging auditing standards for English LCEs.