The new SORP has been developed by the CIPFA/LASAAC Local Authority SORP Board and has effect for financial years commencing on or after 1 April 2009.

The SORP specifies the principles and practices of accounting required to prepare a Statement of Accounts which ‘presents fairly’ the financial position and transactions of a local authority.

The 2009 SORP includes a host of significant changes, in particular:

• The accounting requirements for the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) are no longer based on UK accounting standards but on IFRS and therefore Appendix E ‘Accounting for PFI Transactions and Similar Contracts’ has been redrafted in its entirety.

• Detailed requirements for accounting for National Non-domestic Rates and Council Tax in England, Scotland and Wales, and Rates in Northern Ireland are for the first time included in the SORP. There are significant changes for National Non-domestic Rates and Council Tax in England.

• A number of local authorities reorganised from 1 April 2009, the 2009 SORP includes accounting requirements in respect of this change.

• Five note disclosures have been removed as requirements of the 2009 SORP and some others have been amended.

• With regard to Wales and Northern Ireland, the requirements concerning reflecting events after the balance sheet date in the statement of accounts have been amended.

• For Scotland, the requirements for disclosing the date the Statement of Accounts was authorised for issue have been amended to bring them in to line with guidance on the matter recently issued by LASAAC.

The SORP applies formally in Great Britain to local authorities, police authorities, fire authorities, probation committees, joint committees and joint boards of principal authorities. In Northern Ireland it applies to all district councils.

In England and Wales, the local authority SORP constitutes a 'proper accounting practice' under the terms of section 21(2) of the Local Government Act 2003. In Scotland, the local authority SORP constitutes proper accounting practice under section 12 of the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003. In Northern Ireland the status and authority of the local authority SORP derives from regulation 4 of the Local Government (Accounts and Audit) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 and through the relevant accounts direction issued by Department of the Environment (Northern Ireland).

The SORP is available in book and CD-ROM format. The CD-ROM contains a pdf of the publication, together with fully searchable text enabling users to search powerfully and accurately for any given word or phrase. The CD-ROM comes complete with a licence for networking to all bona fide employees of the purchasing local authority only. Details of licensing arrangements for other categories of purchaser, which includes those organisations operating shared service arrangements, are available from CIPFA’s Publications Department.