Regional Development Agencies Act 1998

14 Accounts and records

(1) A regional development agency shall—

(a) keep proper accounts and proper accounting records, and

(b) prepare in respect of each accounting period a statement of accounts giving a true and fair view of the state of affairs and the income and expenditure of the agency.

(2) Every statement of accounts prepared under subsection (1) shall comply with any requirement which the Secretary of State has, with the consent of the Treasury, notified in writing to the agency and which relates to any of the following matters, namely—

(a) the information to be contained in the statement,

(b) the manner in which that information is to be presented, or

(c) the methods and principles according to which the statement is to be prepared.

(3) Subject to subsections (4) and (5), “accounting period”, in relation to a regional development agency, means a period beginning with 1st April and ending with the next 31st March.

(4) The Secretary of State may, in relation to an accounting period of a regional development agency, direct that the period shall end with such date other than the next 31st March as may be specified in the direction.

(5) Where the Secretary of State has given a direction under subsection (4), the following accounting period of the agency to which the direction was given shall begin with the day after the date specified in the direction and, subject to any further direction under subsection (4), shall end with the next 31st March.

(6) In this section, “accounting records”, in relation to a regional development agency, includes all books, papers and other records of the agency relating to, or to matters dealt with in, the accounts required to be kept by this section.