A council has admitted it blundered by including a non-existent executive, on £140,000-£150,000, in a draft of its accounts last year.

Rochdale Council also over-estimated its fixed assets by £10million, the Audit Commission said.

The council said the mistakes had been corrected at an early stage and had not affected its finances.

But opposition leaders branded the errors 'incredible' and called for action to be taken.

The mistakes were picked up by an auditor in the 2008/09 accounts.

They come just one year after the council came under fire for having paid £100,000 too much to United Utilities.

The Audit Commission, in its annual letter to the town hall, said: “Our audit identified some errors within the council's financial statements and these were corrected prior to issuing audit opinion.

“The main error identified during the audit concerned the section of the accounts dealing with officers' pay.

“An additional member of staff was included incorrectly in the top salary band. It is important that the relevant note to the accounts is correctly stated given the sensitive nature of information about the pay of senior staff.”

Ashley Dearnley, leader of the Conservative opposition group on the council, said: “It is totally unacceptable to count pay for a senior officer who does not exist.

Laughable

“If it were not so serious it would be laughable, but at a time when the council is facing serious financial difficulties we all need to have confidence in the council's finances, this type of inept management must be dealt with.

“It is vital that action is taken.”

A spokesman for Rochdale council said: “The council's financial statements are produced in 60 days following a lengthy and demanding process.

“There are key internal controls within the financial systems and procedures implemented which ensure errors or omissions are identified and corrected in a timely fashion.

“An error in the fixed asset register was identified and highlighted by council staff before the commencement of the audit and the statements were amended.

“The 2008/09 key financial statements - balance sheet, income and expenditure account - did not contain any material errors or omissions.

“The Audit Commission acknowledged the good working papers maintained by the council.

“There were however changes to the notes of the accounts which do not impact on the statements themselves.

“The notes were produced on the information available at the time of completion with assurance checks undertaken, however additional information obtained during the audit required the note to be updated.”