(1)The Welsh Ministers must, for each financial year, prepare accounts in accordance with directions given to them by the Treasury.
(2)The accounts must include details of the financial affairs and transactions of the Counsel General.
(3)The directions which the Treasury may give under subsection (1) include directions to prepare accounts relating to financial affairs and transactions of persons other than the Welsh Ministers.
(4)The directions which the Treasury may give under subsection (1) include, in particular, directions as to—
(a)the financial affairs and transactions to which the accounts are to relate,
(b)the information to be contained in the accounts and the manner in which it is to be presented,
(c)the methods and principles in accordance with which the accounts are to be prepared, and
(d)the additional information (if any) that is to accompany the accounts.
(5)Any accounts which the Welsh Ministers are directed under this section to prepare for any financial year must be submitted by the Welsh Ministers to the Auditor General no later than 30th November in the following financial year.
(6)The Auditor General must—
(a)examine and certify any accounts submitted under this section, and
(b)no later than four months after the accounts are submitted, lay before the Assembly a copy of them as certified by the Auditor General together with the Auditor General’s report on them.
(7)In examining accounts submitted under this section, the Auditor General must, in particular, be satisfied—
(a)that the expenditure to which the accounts relate has been incurred lawfully and in accordance with the authority which governs it, and
(b)that money received for a particular purpose or particular purposes has not been expended otherwise than for that purpose or those purposes.
(8)Where—
(a)by virtue of any enactment other than this section the Welsh Ministers are under an obligation to prepare accounts dealing with any matters, and
(b)it appears to the Treasury that those matters fall to be dealt with in accounts directed to be prepared under this section,
the Treasury may relieve the Welsh Ministers of that obligation for or in respect of such periods as the Treasury may direct.