Local Councils in England Annual return for the financial year ended 31 March 2014

I Local councils in England with an annual turnover of f6.5 million or less must complete an annual return in accordance with proper practices summarising their activities at the end of each financial year. In this annual return the term 'local council' includes a Parish Meeting, a Parish Council and a Town Council.

The annual return on pages 2 to 5 is made up of four sections:

e 1 and f3 are completed by the person nominated by the local council.

- Sw$kn 3 is complbtad by the external auditor appointed by the Audit Commission.

- 1

4 is completed by the local council's internal audit provider. - -.

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Each oauncil must approve this annual mhrn no later than 30 June 2014.

Guidance notes, including a completion checklist, are provided on page 6 and at relevant points in e the annual return.

td in green. DO not b v e any green box blank. lncompkb or incorrect ~~ audt w i h and may incur additional costs.

Send the annual Wm, tcqether with your bank reconciliation as at 31 March 2014, an explanation of any significant yearon ywmriances in the m u n t i n g statements and any additional information requested, to your auditor by the due date.

Your external aodiir will identify EMld ask b r any additbrral documents needed for audit. Therefore, u n k s mquwtd, do not send any originsvl . ial records to the external auditor.

Audiid and wtifid annual returns will be returned to the local council for publication or public d@ky d sedbns 1,2 and 3. You must publbh or display the audited annual return by 30 S B ~ M - 14.

I1 M not be necessary for you to contact the external auditor or the Audit Commisdm directly for g#uid-.

h4a-e guidance on completing this annual return is available in the Practitioners' Guide for local councils that can be downloaded from www.nalc.gov.uk or from w.slcc.w.uk

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4 . . - . _ . -> . \ . :/;. k- r

. - -. Section 1 - Accounting statements 201 3/14 for - - - , -

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Enter name of repartit-ig body b:

Fbeidws should th~t ti-uvugw tki& annual mturn r & w @ m b a 'local <=omCil' ar 'council' at= titats to a parish mmtirrg.

Year d i n g fWm and @uldmce -- - - - --

32 Mach PI- nxlnd all f@tnai to mar& f 1. Do not l a a w e any boaee 1%':. 2.4 #a* d mpw? rn OP #% hla-. All ~u~ must agree to U-W hiWl€hd -8., I @Ad Mances and reserves at the beginning of the year as ~ i n t h e r A m a ~ l ~ s , % h s k i t e ~ ~ z f b Box7af

and erc@@yfus$, pensi~n contributions and employ

the year on the council's borrowings (if any).

-- I c e w b t fiD#. h ykkcl e n d d 31 M w ~ h 2014 1 I rxOnrFjm that these acmuntin~ statements were - -

1 yes no yes no

I the &n8ng s$&&~m in thk amud return I approved by the muncil on this date: pre%@nt fairly th finandd pSfi1on af Ih@ mumil and its incorm and w p ~ ~ b m , or present receipts and payments, as be.

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Section 2 - Annual governance statement 201 311 4

-I- - &r rmpMsibilii for emring that these is a muna sys%@rn of intemar control, 1nc1udln.g the

pmpamtbn of the accounting statemerib. We mnfirm, to the b t of wr knowMge and belief, with respect b the aamunting st; ' mnts for the ysar ended 31 March 2014, that: rn

Agreed - 'Yes'

Yes 1 No* means that th- -", lQ,,.

reco& and conW systems.

a sole managing trustee of a local trust or

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Section 3 - External auditor certificate and opinion 201 311 4 Certificate We certify that we have completed the audit of the annual return for the year ended 31 Marcti 2014 of

Respective responsibilities of the council and the auditor The council is responsible for ensuring that its financial management is adequate and effective and that it has a sound system of internal control. The council prepares an annual return in accordance with proper practices which: - summarises the accounting records for the year ended 31 March 2014; and - confirms and provides assurance on those matters that are important to our audit responsibilities.

Our responsibility is to conduct an audit in accordance with guidance issued by the Audit Commission and, on the basis of our review of the annual return and supporting information, to report whether any matters that come to our attention give cause for concern that relevant legislation and regulatory requirements havgnot been met.

External auditar mport an the basis of our rev', in our opinion the informatim in

props pmdim and no malhrs have m e to our attention iving cause fbr tht relevant legkWoi and regulatory requirements have not been met. delete as apppt&&e). C

Other rnetbrs not affusetirqj our apinian which we draw to the attention of the council:

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External auditor signature I External auditor name Date I 7 9 - 1 4 1

Note: The 'auditor signing thjs page has been app-ointed by the Audit C;omrnissian arld is reporting to you that they have carded, aut and compkted all the work that is required d them by law. For further information please refer to the Audit Commission's publication entitld 8.tatR.menZ of Responsibilities of , Auditors and Audited Small Bodies.

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Section 4 - Annual internal audit report 201 3/14 to

The mncil 's internal mdi, acting independently and on the baa@ d m assessment of risk, carried out a seledve assessment of compliance with relevant psedures and controls expected to be in operatiion during the fmancial year ended 31 March 2014.

Internal audit has k e n oarrid out in awrdmce wi€h the muncil's needs and planned coverage. On the beski d the findings in the areas examined, t b intmal audit amdusions are summarised in this table. Set out below are the objedivee d Wml mntd and alongeicle are the internal audit conclusions on whether, in all s ign i f iw ~~, the m4rd orbjecciws were being achieved throughout the financial year to a standard adequate to m e t the needs Qf the wundi.

I Inkr nd control objectrue

A, Appropriate accounting records have been kept propea tjmw$kQUf the year. .

M e e d ' ? Plc&c ctuose only o m of ttrs fobwing

yes piG3-covered" I-- - - - -

B The c w M b &~an&l mgul- h x b t been mt, p~yrnmb were supported 1 / 1 1 - I

I rg For any other risk areas ~CIWIM~ by tt.le oounci~ (ligt any otl?er r i ~ k a m k b w or on sepmtta sheeta if needecl~ adequate

$;- :><$ %iNarne of person who carried out the internal audit

C. -.I

Signature of person who carried out the internal aud - -- -

"Note: If the response is 'ndplease state 'the Pmplians and action being taken to address m y weakness in m l ro l identified [add separate &~eets if needed).

**Note: If the response is 'not m d pSB1zme sta& when the mt recent internal audit work was done in this area and when it is next planned, srr, H coverage is not required, intarnal audit must explain why

1 not (add separate sheets if needed). . -

Guidance notes on completing the 201 3/14 annual return 1 You must apply proper practices for preparing this annual return. Proper practices are found in the

Practitioners' Guide* which is updated from time to time and contains everything you should need to prepare successfully for your financial year-end and the subsequent audit Both NALC and SLCC have helplines if you want to talk through any problem you encounter.

2 Make sure that your annual return is complete (i.e. no empty green boxes), and is properly signed and dated. Avoid making any arnendmentsto the completed return. But, if this is unavoidable, make sure the amendments are drawn to the attention of and approved by the council, properly initialled and an explanation is provided to the external auditor. Annual returns containing unapproved or unexplained amendments will be returned unaudited and may incur additional costs.

3 Use the checklist provided below. Use a second pair crf eyes, perhaps a council member or the Chair, to review your annual return for completeness before sending it to the external auditor.

4 Do not send the external auditor any information not specifically asked for. Doing so is not helpful. However, you must notrfy the external auditor of any change of Clerk, Responsible Finance Officer or Chair.

5 Make sure that the copy of the bank reconciliation which you send to your external auditor with the annual return covers all your bank accounts. If your council holds any short-term investments, note their value Qn the bank reconciliation. Theexternal auditor must be able to agree your bank reconciliation to Box 8 on the Accounting Statements (Section 1). You must provide an explanation for any diierence between Box 7 and Box 8. More help on bank reconciliation is available in the Practitioners' Guide*.

6 Explain fully significant variances in the accounting statements on page 2. Do not just send in a copy of your detailed accounting records instead of this explanation. fhe external auditor wants to know that you understand the reasons for all variances. Include complete analysis to support your explanation. Them are a number of examples provided in the Practitioners' Guide* to assist you.

7 If the external auditor has to review unsolicited information, or receives an incomplete bank reconciliation, or yau do not fully explain variances, this may incur additional costs for which the auditor will make a charge.

8 Make sure that your accounting statements add up and the balance carried forward.fpm the previous year (Box 7 of 201 3) equals the balance brought forward in the current year (Box 1 of 2014).

9 Do not complete section 3. The external auditor will complete it at the concl:::m of the audit. - I Completion checklist - 'No' answers mean you may not have met requirements I Done? I - - -

All green boxes have bc;: m p l e t d ? -

< . - - . . t , ' *

An axplanatlon of any difference between Bax 7 and B m 8 is p m e d i . - ? : T m t fund8 - dl disclmms made if ~~1 L a ade managing trustee? NB: Do nat m d t W accounting s&ammb u n b requ&ltsd.

F Q ~ any s&~@mentto which the mponm is 'no', m sxpIanM~n is provided?

gmn boxw &mpleW by internal audit and exxplmmrn p-7

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