The charity sector regulatory chief has warned against consolidating charity accounts with the group accounts of public bodies, where a public body is the corporate trustee of a charity or appoints trustees. Charity Commission chief executive Andrew Hind - who has now raised the issue with HM Treasury and the Financial Reporting Advisory Board - said that such a consolidation by public sector auditors would give rise to questions about the independence of such charities from the state, Charity Finance reports. Such 'public sector auditors' may either be staff from the Audit Commission itself or private auditors appointed to the role by the Audit Commission. 'If charities are consolidated into the group accounts of NHS trusts, local authorities or government departments, there is a serious concern that such charities would be perceived as controlled by those bodies,' said Hind. To read an interview with Andrew Hind, see Accountancy's June issue, p42.