Accounts

Annual Accounts

The Parish Council’s financial year is from 1 April to 31 March.

Annually, the Parish Council prepares an annual return which now consists of:

• Certificate of Exemption;
• Annual Internal Audit Report;
• Annual Governance Statement; and
• Accounting Statements.

From the 2017/18 financial year, the Parish Council can certify that it meets the criteria to be exempt from an external audit and simply comply with the requirements of the Transparency Code – see to the right. To be exempt, total income needs to be below £25,000 and total expenditure needs to be below £25,000. The Parish Council has been below these thresholds since 2017/18 and, therefore, certifies annually that it is exempt from a limited assurance review.

In addition to the accounting statements in the Annual Return, the Parish Council prepares and approves a more detailed income and expenditure account.

Transparency Code

From 1 April 2015, the Parish Council must comply with the Transparency Code. This Code was introduced by the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 and allows bodies with an annual turnover below £25,000 to be exempt from routine external audit. In place of this, the requirements of the Code must be adhered to. The requirements are to publish the following information on a website:

• all items of expenditure above £100;
• end of year accounts;
• annual governance statement;
• internal audit report;
• list of councillor responsibilities;
• the details of public land and building assets; and
• minutes, agendas and meeting papers of formal meetings

Furneux Pelham Parish Council will also create a list of Grants issued, the amounts and to whom.