This report to Parliament summarises the results of financial audit work undertaken on behalf of the Comptroller and Auditor General in 2006, on the 2005-06 accounts of United Kingdom central government bodies and highlights key issues arising from that work. The Comptroller and Auditor General is the appointed auditor of all United Kingdom central government departments, executive agencies, and a wide range of other public bodies. In total, the Comptroller and Auditor General audits approximately 470 accounts per year, incorporating total expenditure and revenue of approximately £800 billion. In reporting the results of audit examinations, this report focuses upon the Comptroller and Auditor General's audits of the receipts of revenue and of public debt and reserves, as well as commenting upon the quality and timeliness of financial reporting and the other information accompanying the financial statements of the spending departments, their agencies and non-departmental public bodies. It also discusses the reporting of significant losses by departments and progress towards the future compilation of the whole of government accounts.

Financial auditing and Reporting: 2005-2006 : General report by the Comptroller and Auditor General for Northern Ireland

VAT missing trader fraud is a large-scale criminal attack on the EU VAT system, which costs the UK exchequer approximately £1 billion a year. Although the Department has been trying to tackle this fraud for six years, they still have not stemmed the flow of tax losses. Recently they obtained authority to introduce the special measure of "reverse charge" for mobile phones and computer chips but this can only be a provisional solution. The problem can only be tackled at EU level and ultimately the European Union will have to agree a new legislative framework for administering VAT.