Accountant's Office
(Accountant: Colin Preece)

1  Purpose

The Office provides a financial and accounting service for the House, including the Refreshment Department.

The Office advises budgetholders on financial matters and provides information to enable them to carry out their responsibilities under the devolved financial management arrangements. It pays staff salaries, departmental general expenses and other costs in accordance with proper authorisation. It is responsible for the administration and monitoring of House of Lords' expenditure, the preparation of estimate submissions and longer term spending reviews.

The Office is also responsible for the administration of the Peers' Reimbursement Allowance Scheme.

2  Organisation

The Accountant's Office has a staff of 12, one of whom is located in the Refreshment Department. Four members of the Office hold professional accounting qualifications, and a further two are undertaking training towards this goal.

3  Activities and Financial Performance

Work continued in the move to the full implementation of Resource Accounting and Budgeting, in close consultation with the House of Commons. The accounts were operated in both cash and resource terms, the final year that the separate Administration and Works Votes were in existence. A single resource based Estimate was submitted for the financial year 2001-02. This incorporated a net resource requirement for all House of Lords' expenditure and the associated net cash requirement.

A detailed factual submission was prepared for the Review Body on Senior Salaries' review of Parliamentary pay and allowances (see Review of the Year, paragraph 91).

The cash budget for the Accountant's Office in 2000-01 was £382,200. Actual cash expenditure totalled £376,788 (£329,676 in 1999-2000); the increase was mainly due to additional staff costs.

A total of 5,519 claims for expenses from Members were paid in 2000-01 (6,621 in 1999-2000). The cash budget for 2000-01 was for £8,417,000; actual expenditure totalled £8,411,551 (£9,386,971 in 1999-2000).

4  Future Activities

• 1 April 2001 will see the full implementation of Resource Accounting and Budgeting. Final accounts for 2000-01 will be produced for cash-only Appropriation Accounts, and an accruals based Resource Account.

• The Accountant's Office will move to Millbank House in September 2001.