§ Sir Ralph Glynasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what is the system of accounting for expenditure of county war agricultural executive committees; whether the accounting officer of the Ministry of Agriculture is responsible for the auditing of the accounts of all these committees; whether any published balance sheet is prepared; and, if so, in what form will it be submitted to Parliament.
§ Mr. R. S. HudsonEach committee has its own finance department and banking accounts. Committees render monthly accounts of all their receipts and payments which are incorporated in the Ministry's50W books and are included in the annual Appropriation Accounts relating to the Department's War Services Vote.
The accounting officer of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries is the accounting officer in connection with the transactions of the committees. Examiners from the Ministry visit the committees' offices periodically for the purpose of checking the cash accounts. In addition the Ministry has a small staff of qualified accountants who visit committees with the object of assisting them with their accounting and financial problems and of investigating their systems and records and their general arrangements for financial control. Generally, an audit in the strict sense of the term is not carried out by my Department, but in a number of cases a limited local audit is performed by County Accountants or local firms of professional accountants. As stated above, however, the committees' cash transactions form part of the Ministry's accounts which are, of course, subject to audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General.
It is not proposed to prepare a balance sheet covering the whole of the committees' activities.