Housing Act 1964

10 Accounts, audit, annual report, etc.

(1) The Corporation shall keep proper accounts and proper records in relation to the accounts and shall prepare in respect of each financial year annual accounts in such form as the Minister and the Secretary of State acting jointly may, with the approval of the Treasury, direct.

(2) The accounts of the Corporation for each financial year shall be audited by a qualified accountant appointed for the purpose by the Minister and the Secretary of State acting jointly.

(3) As soon as the annual accounts of the Corporation for any financial year have been audited, the Corporation shall send to the Minister and to the Secretary of State a copy of the accounts prepared by them for that year in accordance with this section, together with a copy of any report made by the auditor thereon.

(4) The Minister and the Secretary of State shall each prepare in respect of each financial year, in such form and manner as the Treasury may direct, an account of the sums issued to him out of the Consolidated Fund and advanced to the Corporation under this Act, and of sums received by him from the Corporation and paid into the Exchequer in respect of the principal of and interest on sums so advanced.

(5) On or before the 30th November in each year, the Minister and the Secretary of State shall each transmit to the Comptroller and Auditor General the accounts prepared by him under the last foregoing subsection in respect of the last foregoing financial year; and the Comptroller and Auditor General shall examine and certify the accounts prepared by the Minister and the Secretary of State respectively and lay before each House of Parliament copies of those accounts together with his report thereon.

(6) The Corporation shall, as soon as possible after the end of each financial year, make to the Minister and to the Secretary of State a report on the exercise and performance by them of their functions during that year, and shall—

(a) include in the report a copy of their audited accounts for that year, and

(b) set out in the report any directions given to the Corporation by the Minister and the Secretary of State or either of them during that year ;

and the Minister and the Secretary of State shall lay a copy of every such report before each House of Parliament.

(7) In this section " financial year" means the period of twelve months ending with the 31st March, and "qualified accountant" means a person who is a member, or a firm all of the partners wherein are members, of one or more of the following bodies, that is to say—

(a) the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales;

(b) the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland;

(c) the Association of Certified and Corporate Accountants ;

(d) the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland;

(e) any other body of accountants established in the United Kingdom and for the time being recognised for the purposes of section 161(1)(a) of the Companies Act 1948 by the Board of Trade.