A: Almost invariably these are not good news for the parish council or residents. Under Section 8 of the Audit Commission Act 1998, the appointed (external) auditor is required to consider whether to issue a report in the public interest on any significant matter coming to his or her notice in the course of an audit, and to bring it to the attention of the audited body and the public.

Examples could be...

• fraud
• failure to keep accounting records
• failure to complete an annual financial return