Finances 2023 - 2024

Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2024

The limited assurance review for Thurston has now been completed by the External Auditors: PKF Littlejohn LLP (28 August 2024).

The Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/234), set out what the Parish Council must do at the conclusion of the review. In summary, we are required to:

  • Prepare a “Notice of conclusion of audit” which details the rights of inspection, in line with the statutory requirements. We attach a pro forma notice you may use for this purpose.
  • Publish the “Notice” along with the certified AGAR (Sections 1, 2 & 3) before 30 September, which must include publication on the smaller authority’s website. This deadline has been extended from 30 September 2020 for 2019/20 only as a result of the restrictions imposed by the government to prevent the spread of Covid-19. (Please note that when the statute and regulations were amended in 2014 and 2015, they did not include a requirement for the length of time for which the “Notice” must be published. There is no requirement for the “Notice” to be publicly accessible for 5 years, as there is for the AGAR and the external auditor report and certificate. The previous statute required 14 days; but it is now up to the authority to make this decision).
  • Keep copies of the AGAR available for purchase by any person on payment of a reasonable sum.
  • Ensure that Sections 1, 2 and 3 of the published AGAR remain available for public access. Thurston Parish Council has agreed that this will be for a period of not less than 5 years from the date of publication.

Copies of all of the documents stated above can be seen below.

In accordance with the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015, the Local Audit (Smaller Authorities) Regulations 2015 and the Local Government Transparency Code 2015, there is a requirement for the parish council to publish a number of documents on a public website - all of which are available to download direct from this website. Please note that in order to comply with the Accounts and Audit Regulations, it is stipulated that the Parish Council must provide a scanned version of the Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR).  Unfortunately, this is inaccessible to screen readers, so this Council has chosen to publish the full, signed, AGAR in a slightly more accessible format.

In accordance with the accounting records for the financial year ending 31 March 2024, (which includes all books, deeds, contracts, bills, vouchers, receipts and other documents relating to those records) were made available for inspection by any person interested, during a period of 30 working days set by the smaller authority which must include the first 10 working days of July 2024. 

For details of the dates set for Thurston please use this link which will allow you to download the details which also include an article on: Local Authority Accounts: A Summary of Your Rights. 

For a copy of the detailed guide produced by the National Audit Office 'Local authority accounts: a guide to your rights' please click here to download the guide. 

Notice of Conclusion of the Audit for the year ending 31 March 2024 External auditors certificate and report for year ending 31 March 2024 (Section 3 of the AGAR)
Audited Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2024 (Sections 1 and 2 of the AGAR) Narrative Annual Internal Audit Report for 2023-2024
Annual Internal Audit Report from the AGAR 31 March 2024 Annual Governance Statement for the year ending 31 March 2024 (AGAR Section 1) - signed
Unaudited Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2024 (AGAR Section 2) - signed  Year-end Bank Reconciliation as at 31 March 2024
Explanation of Reserves held at 31 March 2024 Explanation of Significant Variances for year ending 31 March 2024
Draft Accounts for year ending 31 March 2024 Donations for the year ending 31 March 2024 
Asset Register for year ending 31 March 2024 Internal Control Policy for 2023 - 2024
Risk Management Strategy 2023 - 2024 adopted February 2024  Risk Assessment and Management (Financial) for 2023-2024 adopted February 2024
Internal Control Audit Review - Quarter 4 Budget versus Actual Income and Expenditure review - to 31 March 2024
Internal Control Audit Review - Quarter 3 Budget to Actual for the period ending 31 December 2023 - Quarter 3
Internal Control Audit Review - Quarter 2 Budget to Actual for the period ending 30 September 2023 - Quarter 2
Internal Control Audit Review - Quarter 1 Budget to actual for the period ending 30 June 2023 - Quarter 1
Insurance Certificate to 30 September 2024 Insurance Details to 30 September 2023
  Finalised Budget for 2023-2024