Tags: Audit
Close of Audit 2018-19
As always at this time of year we are publishing information to assist our member councils in ensuring that they are compliant and are fulfilling legal requirments placed upon them with regards to the annual audit process for all councils.
Councils which were eligible to certify as exempt from external audit (ie below £25k turnover), and did so, will receive nothing further from their external... Read More »
Posted: Fri, 04 Oct 2019 12:01 by Jake Atkinson
External Audit submission deadline - 1st July 2019
A reminder that the submission deadline of 1st July is approaching. By this date councils should have submitted to PKF Littlejohn either:
- A completed & approved AGAR and all applicable supporting documents; or
- An Exemption Certificate .
Wherever possible, all documents should be submitted by email to sba@pkf-littlejohn.com. Hard copies should be sent by post to: SBA Team PKF Littlejohn LLP 1 Westferry... Read More »
Posted: Tue, 18 Jun 2019 10:01 by Frances Webster
Redaction of AGAR Signatures
Since our round robin on Friday 11th May 2018 we have had further correspondence from PFK Littlejohn on the issue of the redaction of signatures on published AGAR forms. The issue is due to be discussed further by PFK Littlejohn in the light of GDPR implementation.
See below for a copy of the correspondence.
Thank you for your email. Our expectation is that signatures are not redacted. This was raised... Read More »
Posted: Mon, 14 May 2018 20:08 by Jake Atkinson
New guidance on local government investments
The Government has published a new edition of its statutory guidance on local government investments. The new edition applies in England only, for accounting periods starting on or after 1st April 2018. The guidance can be found by clicking here.
The main change is that the guidance is now mandatory for parish and town councils where investments exceed or are expected to exceed £100,000 in the... Read More »
Posted: Mon, 12 Mar 2018 22:49 by Jake Atkinson
Are you at risk of being a "Rothbury" Parish Council?
In the 7+ years I have been delivering training and providing advice on behalf of LRALC as its Chief Officer/Executive there have been many many occasions where it has been made clear to me that some of those receiving LRALC's guidance have been a little cynical as to the importance of applying some of the legal and procedural requirements to their councils. This is often the case when those councils... Read More »
Posted: Mon, 29 Jan 2018 14:16 by Jake Atkinson
Journalists and inspection of parish and town council accounts
Grant Thornton - Limited Assurance 2016/17 - Bulletin 3 – New rights of inspection
Journalists now have the right to inspect the accounts (but it's still only electors who can raise questions and objections with the external auditor).
The Local Audit (Public Access to Documents) Act 2017 (the Act) received royal assent on 27 April 2017. The Act extends rights of inspection under section 26 of the... Read More »
Posted: Tue, 16 May 2017 09:00 by Jake Atkinson
Grant Thornton Annual Return and External Audit 2016-17 Briefing
Last week at the LRALC External Audit briefing Grant Thornton announced that the Annual Return and associated information will be sent out later than usual this year (end of March/early April) due to responsibility for issuing the Annual Return nationally shifting to SAAA (Smaller Authorities' Audit Appointments Limited).
Please see the slides below for the full session content.
UPDATE FROM GRANT THORNTON... Read More »
Posted: Mon, 13 Mar 2017 10:04 by Jake Atkinson
Press Release for ALL Member Councils: External Audit Appointments
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR ALL COUNCILS
SAAA Ltd is pleased to announce that it has successfully concluded the procurement process and has awarded contracts for the supply of limited assurance audit reviews for smaller authorities. Three audit firms have been appointed as suppliers for the five-year period commencing 1 April 2017: PKF Littlejohn, Mazars and Moore Stephens. Contracts have been signed... Read More »
Posted: Wed, 30 Nov 2016 11:40 by Jake Atkinson
Practitioners' Guide 2016 - complete guide now available
On 28 June 2016 JPAG approved Section 5 of 'Governance and Accountability for Smaller Authorities in England - Practitioners' Guide 2016' for publication. Section 5 contains supporting information and practical examples, supplementing (but not forming part of) the 'proper practices' set out in Sections 1 and 2.
This completes publication of the 2016 edition of the Guide; there will be no Appendices.... Read More »
Posted: Wed, 06 Jul 2016 14:59 by Jake Atkinson
Only one week until smaller councils must publish their annual data - act now!
All local councils with a turnover of £25k or less are now only a week away from the deadline for publishing their annual data for 2015-16 on a public website.
The following must be published by 1st July:
- All items of income and expenditure above £100.
- End of year accounts, annual governance statement, and internal audit report (as contained in the annual return). The end of year accounts... Read More »
Posted: Wed, 22 Jun 2016 17:06 by Jake Atkinson
