Prep time

The uncorrected minutes of the Public Accounts Committee session with the BBC in MediacityUK last week are rich stuff - but richer is to come in the BBC's Annual Report - containing the audited accounts which CFO Zarin Patel revealed were signed off by the Executive Board on that very day, June 10th.

KPMG are the auditors, and the PAC was interested that they also signed the accounts off last year, apparently happy with what they were told about the Digital Media Initiative - though we know now there were written concerns in the hands of The Trust. It took from October 2012 to May 2013 for Accenture to report on DMI problems - and their findings led to the cancellation of the project by Lord Hall. That was decisive action - but five months suggests that the issues were not cut and dried.

Zarin also revealed that the BBC spent £10.3m on consultants in 2012/3. I can't find a reported figure for 2011/2, but in 2010/11 it was £8.23m (including nearly £1m to Accenture; and £3m to Deloitte, who provided services to DMI, amongst other things - maybe that should have been the other way round). It's a line to watch for the current year - a number of new consultants have been spotted round the place, thinking strategically, as Lord Hall and James Purnell prep their "radical" ten-year plan promised for October. Lord Hall will be a sprightly 72 when that's fulfilled.

And we're being softened up for some big numbers in pay-offs - both in headcount and cash - with a rush for deals as the September cap (£150k) promised by Lord Hall comes into play. Watering eyes will be drawn to John Smith's settlement.

• The minutes of the PAC session also have some good stuff about Salford relocations. It seems one senior manager got a package to relocate his second home from the "East of England" to the Manchester area. According to Peter Salmon, "this was somebody who was business ­critical, a key leader here, and who had done a brilliant job for us". Presumably still doing that with their main residence in London, like Peter.