Auditors in UK Law

What the appellants were saying was wholly inconsistent with what was in these minutes and documents. The evidence relied on by the respondent for rejecting the appellants' assertion that they believed that more money would be forthcoming was strong; but it is a matter of human experience that political zealots, as some of the appellants seem to have been, can so delude themselves about reality that lying is unnecessary for them.

The leading authority in this area is Porter v McGill [2001] UKHL 67, [2002] 2 AC 357. This is the House of Lords' decision arising out of the well known "Homes for Votes" saga in Westminster. Westminster City Council's Auditor certified that certain councillors had caused approximately 31 million pounds loss to the council by their wilful misconduct. The House of Lords held that the Auditor's decision was valid.

There is nothing objectionable in a judge setting out his or her provisional view at an early stage of proceedings, so that the parties have an opportunity to correct any errors in the judge's thinking or to concentrate on matters which appear to be influencing the judge. There is, however, a clear distinction between (a) reaching a final decision prematurely and (b) reaching a provisional view which is disclosed for the assistance of the parties.

I am re-inforced in this conclusion by the fact that we are dealing with an adjudication decision, not an arbitration award or a judicial decision. Adjudication is a rough and ready process carried out at great speed. Vast masses of submissions and evidence have to be assimilated by the adjudicator in a short space of time. It is only binding until such time as the parties have concluded their litigation or their arbitration or their settlement negotiations or some other form of ADR.