Transport Act 1962

24 Accounts

(1) Each Board—

(a) shall cause proper accounts and other records in relation thereto to be kept, and

(b) shall prepare an annual statement of accounts in such form and containing such particulars, compiled in such manner, as the Minister may from time to time direct with the approval of the Treasury.

(2) The accounts of each Board shall be audited by an auditor or auditors to be appointed annually by the Minister and a person shall not be qualified to be so appointed unless he is a member of one or more of the following bodies—

• The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales;

• The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland;

• The Association of Certified and Corporate Accountants;

• The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland;

• Any other body of accountants established in the United Kingdom and for the time being recognised for the purposes of paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section one hundred and sixty-one of the Companies Act, 1948, by the Board of Trade.

(3) So soon as the accounts of a Board have been audited as aforesaid, they shall send a copy of the statement of accounts referred to in paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section to the Minister, together with a copy of the report made by the auditor or auditors on that statement, and a copy of that statement and of any such report shall be included in the report which is under this Act to be laid by the Minister annually before each House of Parliament.

(4) Section thirty-nine of the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1888, and the Railway Companies (Accounts and Returns) Act, 1911 (which relate to the making of returns and the keeping of statistics by railway and canal companies), and, except so far as the Minister may by order made by statutory instrument otherwise provide, so much of any statutory provision as relates to the accounts, statistics and returns to be kept or made by the owners of undertakings which were by the Transport Act, 1947, transferred to the Commission, or as relates to the audit or publication of any such accounts, shall not apply to any of the Boards.