THE EVOLUTION OF THE DISTRICT AUDIT

This paper examines the origins and development of the local authority audit from medieval times to 1933, and briefly reviews later developments. It gives particular attention to the role of the district audit which, as an independent mechanism operating within a centrally established administrative framework, gradually accumulated responsibility for monitoring most aspects of local authority expenditure, which grew from relatively modest amounts to about £5m by the beginning of the nineteenth century and £535m in 1933, which is roughly equivalent to £19.5b in 1990 prices. The paper shows that the government's present objective of greater central control has been a consistent theme over time.