The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has called on the Government to ‘tackle the crisis' in local authority financial reporting and audit.

Following the ICAEW's representation to the Treasury ahead of the Autumn Statement, the organisation's chief executive, Michael Izza, has written to chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

Mr Izza said: ‘The structural failures in the local audit system, with nearly 1,000 delayed audits, may have serious financial consequences for communities across England.

‘We hope the chancellor will use the Autumn Statement as an opportunity to increase the resilience and sustainability of the public finances, with a cross-Government effort to clear the mountain of delayed audit opinions to get the system back on track.'