Control of the Parish Council Finances

Annual Audit

All town and parish (local) councils are required to maintain an effective system of financial control. The local council financial year runs between 1 April to 31 March. Local Councils are required to go through an annual audit process.

There is set of forms issued by the appointed local government that are to be completed within a set timeframe. These are known as the Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR).

Small councils (with an annual normal turnover of less than £25k) must submit a Certificate of Exemption to the appointed local government auditors. There must then be an internal audit, may be carried out by a suitably knowledgeable person who is appointed by the parish council each year.

The internal auditors report and the other statutory forms are then put before the first ordinary meeting of the parish council who should resolve to accept the findings of the report.

These annual reports can be seen below.

Financial Regulations

Every Parish Council should adopt a set of Financial Regulations. These regulations should be reviewed and readopted at each Annual Meeting of the Parish Council.

The Financial Regulations and other governance documents that have been adopted by the Parish Council can be found on the Governance Documents page of this site.