{"id":32478,"date":"2022-02-12T16:02:06","date_gmt":"2022-02-12T16:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsblogsnew.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=32478"},"modified":"2022-02-11T18:42:33","modified_gmt":"2022-02-11T18:42:33","slug":"audit-finds-asset-valuation-flaws-at-scottish-canals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=32478","title":{"rendered":"Audit finds asset valuation flaws at Scottish Canals"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Flaws found in the way Scottish Canals recorded and valued its assets meant auditors could not give an opinion on its accounts, according to a new report published by Audit Scotland.<\/h3>\n

image: Caledonian Canal –
\nDaniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0
\n<https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/l
\nicenses\/by-sa\/3.0>,
\nvia Wikimedia Commons<\/em><\/h6>\n

<\/p>\n

…Scottish Canals did not get valuations for around \u00a351 million of specialist assets…<\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n

Scottish Construction Now<\/em> writes:<\/p>\n

Scottish Canals\u2019 status changed from a public corporation to a non-departmental public body in 2020\/21. That change came with a requirement to follow HM Treasury\u2019s accounting guide, including the methodology to be used to value the canal infrastructure and inland waterways.<\/p>\n

Although the required valuations for investment properties and land and buildings were conducted, auditors found that Scottish Canals did not get valuations for around \u00a351 million of specialist assets. These included dredging equipment, lock gates and canal basin widening works.<\/p>\n

A subsequent valuation, aimed at estimating the cost of replacing these assets in their current condition and existing use, then raised concerns about the accuracy of Scottish Canal\u2019s fixed asset register, amongst other valuation flaws. This meant auditors had to issue a disclaimer of opinion on the accuracy of Scottish Canal\u2019s financial statements, a very unusual step.<\/p>\n

Turnover in Scottish Canals\u2019 finance team during this period increased the challenge of fully adopting HM Treasury\u2019s accounting rules associated with its changed status….<\/p>\n

Stephen Boyle, auditor general for Scotland, said: \u201cScottish Canals\u2019 core role is to manage infrastructure assets. To plan effectively for the future, it is clearly important that Scottish Canals has a robust record of those assets and their values.<\/p>\n

\u201cScottish Canals\u2019 Board must also be able to satisfy itself that the body has sufficient skills and capacity to deliver the valuation project….\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Scottish Canals commented: \u201cFrom 1 April 2020 Scottish Canals had to change the way it prepares its Annual Report & Accounts in line with the Government Financial Reporting Manual (FReM) and this led to our 2020\/21 accounts being restated.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, our external auditors, Grant Thornton, raised new queries…<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are now working, with the support of Transport Scotland, Scottish Government, and Grant Thornton, to resolve this highly complex matter….\u201d<\/p>\n

The full report can be found\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Read more….<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Flaws found in the way Scottish Canals recorded and valued its assets meant auditors could not give an opinion on its accounts, according to a new report published by Audit Scotland. image: Caledonian Canal – Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sector-newsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32478"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32481,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32478\/revisions\/32481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}