During 2017-18 the NAO certified 370 accounts, published 65 reports and 32 guides on a wide range of public expenditure issues, supported 51 evidence sessions of the Committee of Public Accounts.

Recommendations and reports on good practice led to audited savings of £741m in 2017-18. The report says this represents a return of £11 for every pound spent on NAO work.

‘2017-18 was a year of extraordinary change in UK public life, and we at the NAO have been “in the thick of it”. We are getting more fluent at dealing with change, and focusing on what a changing environment means to the bodies we audit and the public sector. This makes our work more challenging, but also more relevant and helpful,’ said NAO head Amyas Morse.

‘Our aim is to use our work to help shape the future of the NAO and, to a significant extent, that of the public sector as well. In doing so, the Leadership Team, the Board and I are deeply grateful to all our NAO colleagues for what they are contributing to take us ahead.’

One aspect of the NAO’s work last year was an investigation into overseas online traders failing to charge customers VAT and marketplace owners such as Amazon not requiring them to do so.

‘Our work raised the profile of this risk and injected urgency to HMRC’s response. In the 2017 Finance Bill, the government introduced stricter legislation extending the existing rules to make online marketplaces liable for unpaid VAT on sales where they “knew or should have known” an overseas seller was not registered for VAT when they should be,’ says the report.

‘Online marketplaces are also now required to display the valid VAT numbers of their sellers when provided with one. HMRC has responded to public and Parliamentary expectations and produced an agreement to encourage collaboration between itself and online marketplaces in tackling this problem.’

The NAO is also publishing two complementary corporate reports covering its performance during 2017-18.

The Transparency Report shows how the NAO’s audit work has met professional standards expected and made an impact during the year, both in terms of public sector improvement and transparency in the way public funds are spent on behalf of the taxpayer. 

The Diversity and Inclusion Annual Report summarises activities and achievements in the last year of our three-year Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, launched in 2015.

NAO Annual Report and Accounts 2017-18 is here.

Report by Rob Munro