# The Accounts and Audit Regulations 1996, Regulation 4: Accounting records and control systems


(1) Subject to paragraphs (3) and (4) below, and, insofar as they are not in conflict with this paragraph, to any instructions given by a relevant body to their responsible financial officer, the body’s accounting system and the form of their accounts and supporting accounting records shall be determined by the responsible financial officer, and he shall ensure that the accounting systems determined by him are observed and that the accounts and supporting records of the body are maintained in accordance with proper practices and kept up to date.
(2) The accounting records determined by the responsible financial officer in accordance with paragraph (1) shall be sufficient to show the body’s transactions and to enable the responsible financial officer to ensure that any statement of accounts, income and expenditure account, balance sheet or record of receipts and payments and additional information to be provided by way of notes to the accounts, as the case may be, prepared under these Regulations complies with these Regulations.
(3) The accounting records determined by the responsible financial officer in accordance with paragraph (1) shall in particular contain—
(a) entries from day to day of all sums of money received and expended by the body and the matters to which the income and expenditure or receipts and payments account relate;
(b) a record of the assets and liabilities of the body; and
(c) a record of income and expenditure of the body in relation to claims made, or to be made, by them for contribution, grant or subsidy from any Minister of the Crown, a body to whom such a Minister may pay sums out of moneys provided by Parliament or a Community institution.
(4) The accounting control systems determined by the responsible financial officer in accordance with paragraph (1) shall include —
(a) measures to ensure that the financial transactions of the body are recorded as soon as reasonably practicable and as accurately as reasonably possible, measures to enable the prevention and detection of inaccuracies and fraud, and the ability to reconstitute any lost records;
(b) identification of the duties of officers dealing with financial transactions and division of responsibilities of those officers in relation to significant transactions; and
(c) procedures for uncollectable amounts, including bad debts, not to be written off except with the approval of the responsible financial officer or such member of his staff as is nominated by him for this purpose and for the approval to be shown in the accounting records.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1996/590/regulation/4 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/accounts-and-audit-regulations-1996/regulation-4
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.