Smaller Authorities’ Audit Appointments Ltd (SAAA) names Board members and first chairman.

The Smaller Authorities Audit Appointments (SAAA) board  appointed its first ever chair and board members. 

The chair is Mike Attenborough-Cox.

Mike is a qualified accountant and internal auditor, and was a partner at Mazars LL

Smaller Authorities’ Audit Appointments Ltd (SAAA) has today (16^th December 2015) appointed its first Chairman - Mike Attenborough-Cox.

Mike is a qualified accountant and internal auditor, and was a partner at Mazars LLP for 13 years. He has extensive experience of working with public sector organisations, having been appointed UK national public services partner at Mazars in 2001. He is also Chair of the Joint Audit Committee of the Police and Crime Commissioner and Chief Constable for Hampshire; and a member of the Audit and Risk Committee of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The SAAA has been set up to procure audit for around 7000 smaller public sector bodies in England by the National Association of Local Council (NALC), Society of Local Council Clerks (SLCC) and the Association of Drainage Authorities (ADA) following the abolition of the Audit Commission which previously performed this role.  This is the first sector led approach to Public Audit of its kind.

Mike is joined on the Board by two other Independent Directors Lizzie Peers and Martin McNeill.

Lizzie Peers is a qualified chartered public finance accountant, with over 20 years’ experience as a senior public sector external auditor, having worked for the Audit Commission and more recently for Ernst & Young LLP.  She currently sits on the board of two NHS trusts as a non-executive director and lectures at the University of Portsmouth on corporate governance

Martin McNeill is currently Clerk to the corporation of Bicton College in Devon and has a long history of work with the Audit Commission including as Director of Management Services.

The rest of the Board are Peter Bateson, Company Secretary ADA; Steve Alison Head of Finance, SLCC and Jonathan Owen, Chief Executive of NALC.

Mike Attenborough-Cox said: “This is an exciting opportunity to work on the setting up of these new external audit arrangements through the SAAA, and play a role in the improvement of the capacity and reputation of local councils and other smaller authorities in England.”

Further information:

1. Smaller public sector bodies are those with an annual turnover below £6.5 million. This is comprised of town and parish councils plus a small number of other organisations of which Inland Drainage Boards are the most significant.
2. The chair is Mike Attenborough-Cox. Mike is a qualified accountant and internal auditor, was a partner at Mazars LLP for 13 years. Mike has extensive experience of working with public sector organisations, having been appointed UK national public services partner at Mazars in 2001.
3. Previous roles include 12 years as an independent member of Hampshire Police Authority including three years as Chair. Mike was a Non-Executive Director of the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases NHS Foundation Trust from August 2013 until the beginning of February 2015 when the Trust became part of the Royal Universities Hospital Bath. Mike chaired the Finance and Activity Committee and was a member of the Audit, Remuneration and Charitable Funds Committees.
4. In March 2015 he became a Non-Executive Director of Portsmouth Hospitals Trust and chairs their Audit Committee and is vice chair of the Finance and Performance Committee.  Currently he is Chair of the Joint Audit Committee of the Police and Crime Commissioner and Chief Constable for Hampshire, and a member of the Audit and Risk Committee of the Foreign and Commonwealth Officer Services Department and the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. Mike is a board member of the Institute of Group Analysis and chairs their Finance Committee.
5. Lizzie Peers is a qualified chartered public finance accountant, with over 20 years’ experience as a senior public sector external auditor, having worked for the Audit Commission and more recently for Ernst & Young LLP.
6. She brings a wide range of audit expertise and significant board level experience of supporting change and delivering improvements in public accountability, value for money, governance, probity, regulatory compliance and financial sustainability across a wide range of NHS and local government organisations, ranging from the large to the small.  Key clients have included all forms of NHS bodies as well as county, unitary, district and town councils, police/fire authorities and probation trusts.
7. As well as her statutory audit work, she also has extensive experience in UK public services advisory work in areas such as change management, risk management, resource prioritisation and procurement.
8. She has worked at national and regional levels on projects with the Audit Commission, other inspectorates and representatives of central government in areas such as value for money use assessments and partnership development.
9. She currently sits on the board of two NHS trusts as a non-executive director, lectures at the University of Portsmouth in corporate governance, ethics, audit and accountancy and is the treasurer and trustee for a national children’s charity.
10. Martin McNeill is Clerk to the Corporation, Bicton College and has worked as an Independent Consultant for the Association of Colleges and the Audit Commission.  He was the Director of Management Services at the Audit Commission from 1990 – 1994 responsible for finance, HR, IT and other corporate services.  He began his career with Hill Samuel and Co Ltd.
11. For more information on the Society of Local Council Clerks please visit here The SLCC’s representative on the SAAA Board is Steve Alison, Head of Finance and Facilities at the SLCC.
12. The Association of Drainage Authorities’ (ADA’s) representative on the SAAA Board is Peter John Bateson. He is the company secretary of ADA. Peter qualified in the Assurance and Advisory team at Deloitte and spent 17 years advising SME clients before taking on Finance Director roles for professional services firms.  His current post is Chief Executive and Finance Officer for a small public body responsible for flood risk and water level management in coastal Lincolnshire. For more information on the Association of Drainage Authorities please visit here
    
13. Jonathan Owen is the chief executive of NALC.