Statement of Accounting Officer’s Responsibilities
Published 9 June 2022
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/corporate-governance-report/statement-of-accounting-officers-responsibilities
Under the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000, HMT has directed GLD to prepare for each financial year a Statement of Accounts in the form and on the basis set out in the Accounts Direction.
The Accounts are prepared on an accruals basis and must give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of GLD and of its income and expenditure, statement of financial position and cash flows for the financial year.
In preparing the Accounts, the Accounting Officer is required to comply with the requirements of the Government Financial Reporting Manual, and in particular to:
- observe the Accounts Direction issued by HMT, including the relevant accounting and disclosure requirements, and apply suitable accounting policies on a consistent basis;
- make judgments and estimates on a reasonable basis;
- state whether applicable accounting standards as set out in the Government Financial Reporting Manual have been followed, and disclose and explain any material departures in the Accounts;
- prepare the Accounts on a going concern basis; and
- confirm that the Annual Report and Accounts as a whole is fair, balanced and understandable and take personal responsibility for the Annual Report and Accounts and the judgments required for determining that it is fair, balanced and understandable
HMT has appointed the Treasury Solicitor and Chief Executive as Accounting Officer of GLD. The responsibilities of an Accounting Officer, including responsibility for the propriety and regularity of the public finances for which the Accounting Officer is answerable, for keeping proper records and for safeguarding the department’s assets, are set out in Managing Public Money, published by HMT.
As Accounting Officer, I have taken all the steps that I ought to have taken to make myself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that GLD’s auditors are aware of that information. As far as I am aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the auditors are unaware.