http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/2/section/7/notesExplanatory Notes to Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014Department for Communities and Local GovernmentDepartment of HealthKing's Printer of Acts of Parliament2018-08-23 2 30 January 2014 25 Section 7 provides that an auditor must be appointed by the end of 31st December in the financial year before the financial year which will be covered by the accounts to be audited. The appointment may last for more than one year but a new appointment must be made at least once every five years. The Secretary of State is empowered to alter this period of time by regulations. The auditor must be eligible to audit the relevant authority’s accounts (as to which, see Part 4) and must be independent from the body being audited. Subsection (6) provides for more than one auditor to be appointed to audit the accounts, enabling different auditors to audit different parts of the accounts, to carry out different functions, or to audit some or all parts of the accounts jointly. Subsection (8) gives effect to Schedule 3, which sets out further provisions around the appointment of local auditors.