Accounts and audit
17.—(1) The Commission shall keep accounts and shall prepare in respect of each financial year a statement of accounts.
(2) The accounts shall be kept, and the statement of accounts shall be prepared, in such form as the Lord Chancellor may, with the approval of the Treasury, specify by direction given to the Commission.
(3) The Commission shall send a copy of the statement of accounts in respect of each financial year to the Lord Chancellor and to the Comptroller and Auditor General within such period after the end of the financial year to which it relates as the Lord Chancellor may specify by direction given to the Commission.
(4) The Comptroller and Auditor General shall—
(a)examine, certify and report on each statement of accounts received by him under sub-paragraph (3), and
(b)send a copy of his report to the Commission.
(5) The Commission shall lay before each House of Parliament—
(a)a copy of each statement of accounts prepared under sub-paragraph (1), and
(b)a copy of each report received from the Comptroller and Auditor General under sub-paragraph (4)(b).