On 27 February 2017, Joint Practitioners Advisory Group (JPAG) approved some modest amendments to the wording of Governance and Accountability. The content is not greatly changed, but a minor error affecting parish meetings has been corrected and some of the explanations in part five have been made clearer. 

The 2017 edition of the guide applies to the statutory reporting of the financial year 2017/18. However, JPAG has authorised the early adoption of the guide for 2016/17 on a voluntary basis. The decision whether to do so will rest with individual smaller authorities. A copy of the Guide can be viewed in the members' area.