NAO financial audit insights 2024-25

Status / emerging findings

• Only 64% of public bodies met the summer publication deadline in 2024–25, still below the pre-COVID standard of 76%, though all but one department met the statutory January 31 deadline
• 14 government bodies had qualified accounts in 2024–25; the Department for Work & Pensions and HMRC have been qualified for 36 and 20 consecutive years respectively
• £7 billion was written off by main departmental groups in 2024–25 as spending that failed to deliver value; project cancellations after sunk costs flagged as particularly egregious
• Local government audit quality and pension scheme accounting identified as the primary technical barriers to timely whole-of-government accounts
• Environment Agency's four-year recovery to clean audit opinion (2024–25) demonstrates feasibility but requires sustained resource commitment and embedding external auditors

Why it matters

Poor quality and late government accounts erode parliamentary and public accountability for how £1.1 trillion in annual spending is used, and persistent unresolved audit issues in major departments suggest unaddressed control weaknesses.

Tone arc

Opened procedurally focused on timeliness metrics; shifted to systemic criticism after Environment Agency evidence revealed the genuine technical complexity (10 million data points, 255,700 assets) and the absence of statutory penalties for late government accounts unlike the private sector.

Key witnesses

Treasury Permanent Secretary, Government Finance Function, Environment Agency, National Audit Office (NAO), HM Revenue & Customs, Department for Work & Pensions