Behind the numbers: life after Bourngate

Its reputation was badly dented by the unfortunate scandal around the expenses of former boss Sir John Bourn, whose standing as Whitehall’s value for money tsar was undermined by his predilection for first-class travel and five-star hotels.

But the government auditor can look forward to 2009 with more confidence following the pre-Christmas appointment of Sir Andrew Likierman as its first chairman under the new governance structure ushered in in the wake of the Bourngate saga.

Sir Andrew cuts a quietly impressive figure. I first interviewed him 15 years ago when he became head of the government accounting service. He was tasked with ending centuries of cash accounting in Whitehall and running the business of government along commercial lines. That he achieved.

Just as his appointment then marked a change with the past (he succeeded the more establishment Sir Alan Hardcastle, a former Peat Marwick partner), so does his ascendancy to the top of the NAO.

Sir John was a committed public servant and a highly effective Whitehall mandarin. Sir Andrew has spent longer in the private sector than in the public. Most recently, as well as a distinguished academic career, he has been a non-executive director at Barclays Bank and the Bank of England, a position from which he will now step down.

His private sector experience will serve him well. But more than that his decade as, effectively, the government’s FD will make him a formidable chairman. Not only does he know the workings of the audit office better than most, he understands – intimately – the often arcane working of government accounting and where value for money can perhaps be better realised.

Now the hard work begins. The appointment is part of a wider review of the NAO, with legislation slated to usher in further change. A board will have to be recruited and the senior auditors will have to prepare for a cultural shift. Nevertheless the initial aims of the governance review have been delivered.

In Sir Andrew, ‘a chairman with sufficient authority and independence from the comptroller and auditor general to challenge him or her when necessary’ has been found.

Damian Wild is editor in chief of Accountancy Age and blogs at accountancymatters.accountancyage.com