Small Bodies in England
Annual return for the financial year ended
31 March 2014
Small relevant bodies in England with an annual turnover of £6.5 million or less must
complete
an annual return in accordance with proper practices summarising their annual activities
at
the
end of each financial year.
The
annual
return on pages 2 to 5 is made up of four sections:
Sections 1 and 2 are completed by the person nominated by the body.
Section 3 is completed by the
external
auditor appointed by the Audit Commission.
Section 4 is completed by the bodys
internal
audit provider.
Each body must approve this annual return no later than 30 June 2014.
Completing your annual return
Guidance
notes,
including
a completion checklist, are provided on page 6 and at
relevant
points in
the
annual
return.
Complete all sections
highlighted
in red. Do not
leave
any red box blank. Incomplete or incorrect
returns
require additional external
audit work and may incur
additional
costs.
Send the
annual
return, together with your bank
reconciliation
as at 31 March 2014, an explanation
of any
significant
year on year
variances
in the accounting statements and any
additional
information
requested, to your
external
auditor by the due date.
Your external auditor will
identify
and ask for any
additional
documents needed for audit.
Therefore,
unless requested, do not send any
original financial
records to the
external
auditor.
Audited and certified
annual
returns will be returned to the body for publication or public
display
of
sections 1, 2 and 3. You must publish or
display
the audited
annual
return by 30 September 2014.
It should
not be
necessary
for you to contact the
external auditor
or the
Audit Commission directly
for g
u
i
d
a
n
c
e
.
More
guidance
on
completing this annual
return
is available in
the
Pra
c
t
i
t
i
o
n
er
s
Guides
for
either
l
o
c
a
l
councils
or
internal drainage
boards.
These publications
may be
downloaded
from the
National
Association
of
Local Councils
(
N
A
LC
)
or
Society
of
Local Council Clerks
(
S
LCC
)
w
e
b
s
i
t
e
s
(
www.
n
a
l
c
.go
v
.
u
k or www.
s
l
cc
.
c
o.
u
k
)
or from the members
area
of the
Association
of
Dra
i
n
a
g
e
Authorities website
(
www.
a
d
a
.o
r
g.
u
k
)
.
Page 1 of 6
Page 2 of 6
Section 1
Accounting statements
2013/14
for:
Enter name
of
reporting body here:
Year
ending
Notes and
guidance
2013
£
31
March
2014
£
Please round all figures to nearest £1. Do not leave any
boxes
blank and report £0 or Nil balances. All figures must agree
to
underlying financial
records.
1 Balances
brought forward
Total
balances
and
reserves
at the
beginning
of the year as
recorded in the bodys
financial
records.
Value
must agree to
Box 7 of
previous
year.
2
(+)
Income from
local taxation
and/or levy
Total amount of local tax and/or
levy received
or
receivable
in the
year
including
funding from a sponsoring body.
3
(+)
Total other
receipts
Total income or receipts as recorded in the cashbook less income
from taxation and/or
levy (line
2).
Include
any grants
received
here.
4 (-) Staff costs
Total
expenditure
or payments made to and on behalf of all body
employees. Include salaries
and wages,
PAYE
and NI (employees
and
employers),
pension contributions and
employment
expenses.
5 (-) Loan
interest/capital
repayments
Total
expenditure
or payments of capital and interest made during
the year on the bodys borrowings
(if
any).
6 (-) All other
payments
Total
expenditure
or payments as recorded in the cashbook less
staff costs
(line
4) and loan
interest/capital repayments (line
5).
7
(=)
Balances
carried forward
Total
balances
and
reserves
at the end of the year.
Must equal
(1+2+3)
(4+5+6).
8 Total cash and
short term
investments
The sum of all current and deposit bank accounts, cash holdings
and short term
investments
held as at 31 Marchto agree with
bank reconciliation.
9
Total fixed
assets
plus
other
l
o
n
g
term
i
n
ve
s
t
m
e
n
t
s
and assets
The
original
Asset and
Investment Register value
of all fixed
assets, plus other long term assets owned by the body as at 31
March.
10 Total borrowings
The outstanding capital balance as at 31 March of all loans from
third parties
(including
PWLB).
I certify that for the year ended 31 March 2014
the accounting statements in this annual return
present fairly the financial position of the
body
and its income and expenditure, or
pr
operly
present receipts and payments, as the case may
be.
Signed by Responsible Financial Officer:
SIGNATURE REQUIRED
I confirm that these accounting statements were
approved by the body on:
DD/MM/YYYY
and recorded as minute reference:
MINUTE REFERENCE
Signed by Chair of meeting approving these
accounting statements:
Date
DD/MM/YYYY
SIGNATURE REQUIRED
Date
DD/MM/YYYY
Partnership for Urban South Hampshire (PUSH) Joint Committee
2,442,423
1,949,617
0
0
385,333
215,269
0
0
0
0
878,139
898,366
1,949,617
1,266,520
2,049,720
1,332,192
0
0
0
0
Page 3 of 6
Section 2 – Annual
governance statement 2013/14
We acknowledge as the members
of
ENTER REPORTING BODY NAME
HERE
our responsibility for ensuring that there is a sound system of internal control, including the
preparation of the accounting statements. We confirm, to the best of our knowledge and belief,
with
respect to the accounting statements for the year ended 31 March 2014, that:
Agreed
‘Yes
means that the
body:
Yes
No*
1 We approved the accounting statements prepared in
accordance with the
requirements
of the Accounts and
Audit
Regulations
and proper practices.
prepared its accounting statements in the
way prescribed by law.
2 We
maintained
an adequate system of
internal
co
n
t
r
o
l
,
including measures designed
to prevent and detect fraud
and
corruption
and
reviewed its
effe
c
t
i
ve
n
e
ss
.
made proper
arrangements
and accepted
responsibility
for
safeguarding
the public
money and
resources
in its charge.
3 We took
all
reasonable
steps to
assure
ourselves
that there
are no matters of
actual
or
potential
non-compliance
w
i
t
h
laws,
regulations
and proper
practices
that
could
have a
significant
financial
effect on the
ability
of the
council
to
conduct
its
business
or on
its
f
i
n
a
n
c
e
s
.
has
only
done
what
it
has the
l
e
g
a
l
power
to do and has complied with proper
practices
in
doing so.
4 We provided proper opportunity during the year for
the
exercise
of electors’ rights in accordance with the
requirements
of the Accounts and Audit Regulations.
during the year has given all persons
interested
the opportunity to inspect and
ask questions about the bodys accounts.
5 We carried out an
assessment
of the risks facing the body
and took appropriate steps to manage those risks,
including
the introduction of
internal
controls and/or
external insurance
cover where required.
considered the
financial
and other risks it
faces and has dealt with them properly.
6 We
maintained
throughout the year an adequate and
effective
system of
internal
audit of the bodys accounting
records and control systems.
arranged
for a competent person,
independent
of the
financial
controls and
procedures, to give an
objective
view on
whether
internal
controls meet the needs
of
the body.
7 We took appropriate action on all matters raised in
reports from
internal
and
external
audit.
responded to matters brought to its
attention by
internal
and
external
audit.
8 We considered whether any
litigation, liabilities
or
commitments, events or
transactions,
occurring either
during or after the
year-end,
have a
financial
impact on the
body and where appropriate have included them in the
accounting statements.
disclosed
everything
it should have about
its
business
activity during the year
including
events taking place after the year-
end if relevant.
This annual governance statement is approved
by the body and recorded as minute reference
MINUTE REFERENCE
Signed by:
Chair
dated
SIGNATURE REQUIRED
DD/MM/YYYY
dated
DD/MM/YYYY
Signed by:
Clerk
SIGNATURE REQUIRED
dated
DD/MM/YYYY
*Note: Please provide explanations to the external auditor on a separate sheet for each ‘No’ response.
Describe how the body will address the weaknesses identified.
Partnership for Urban South Hampshire (PUSH) Joint Committee
Page 4 of 6
Section 3 External
auditor certificate
and opinion
2013/14
Certificate
We certify that we have completed the audit of the annual return for the year ended 31 March 2014
of:
ENTER REPORTING BODY NAME
HERE
Respective responsibilities of the body and the
auditor
The body is responsible for ensuring that its financial management is adequate and effective and
that
it has a sound system of internal control. The body 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 have not been met.
External auditor r
eport
(Except for the matters reported below)* on the basis of our review, in our opinion the information in
the annual return is in accordance with proper practices and no matters have come to our attention
giving cause for concern that relevant legislation and regulatory requirements have not been met.
(*delete as appr
opriate).
(continue on a separate sheet if required)
Other matters not affecting our opinion which we draw to the attention of the
body:
(continue on a separate sheet if required)
External auditor signatur
e
External auditor name Date
Note: The auditor signing this page has been appointed by the Audit Commission and is reporting
to
you that they have carried out and completed all the work that is required of them by law. For further
information please refer to the Audit Commissions publication entitled Statement of Responsibilities
of
Auditors and of Audited Small Bodies.
Partnership for Urban South Hampshire (PUSH) Joint Committee
Page 5 of 6
Section 4 – Annual internal audit
report
2013/14
to
ENTER REPORTING BODY NAME
HERE
The bodys internal audit, acting independently and on the basis of an assessment of risk, carried
out
a selective assessment of compliance with relevant procedures and controls expected to be in
operation during the financial year ended 31 March 2014.
Internal audit has been carried out in accordance with the bodys needs and planned coverage.
On the basis of the findings in the areas examined, the internal audit conclusions are summarised in
this table. Set out below are the objectives of internal control and alongside are the internal audit
conclusions on whether, in all significant respects, the control objectives were being
achieved
throughout the financial year to a standard adequate to meet the needs of the
body
.
Internal control
objective
Agreed? Please
choose
one of the
following
Yes
No*
Not
co-
vered**
A Appropriate accounting records have been kept properly throughout the year.
B The bodys
financial regulations have
been met, payments were supported by
invoices,
a
ll
expenditure
was approved and
VAT
was
appropriately
accounted for.
C The body
assessed
the
significant
risks to
achieving
its
objectives
and
reviewed
the
adequacy of
arrangements
to manage these.
D The
annual
taxation or
levy
or funding
requirement
resulted from an adequate
budgetary process; progress
against
the budget was
regularly
monitored; and
reserves
were appropriate.
E Expected income was
fully received,
based on correct prices, properly recorded and
promptly banked; and
VAT
was
appropriately
accounted for.
F Petty cash payments were properly supported by receipts, all
expenditure
was
approved and
VAT appropriately
accounted for.
G
Salaries
to
employees
and
allowances
to members were paid in accordance with body
approvals, and
PAYE
and NI
requirements
were properly applied.
H Asset and
investments registers
were complete and accurate and properly maintained.
I
Periodic and
year-end
bank account
reconciliations
were properly carried out.
J Accounting statements prepared during the year were prepared on the correct
accounting basis
(receipts
and payments or income and
expenditure),
agreed to the
cash book, were supported by an adequate audit trail from
underlying
records, and,
where appropriate, debtors and creditors were properly recorded.
For any other risk
areas identified
by the body
(list
any other risk
areas
below or on separate sheets if
needed)
adequate controls existed:
Name of person who carried out the internal audit:
PRINT NAME
Signature of person who carried out the internal audit:
SIGNATURE REQUIRED
Date:
DD/MM/YYYY
*Note: If the response is ‘no’ please state the implications and action being taken to address any
weakness in control identified (add separate sheets if needed).
**Note: If the response is ‘not covered’ please state when the most recent internal audit work was done
in this area and when it is next planned, or, if coverage is not required, internal audit must explain why
not (add separate sheets if needed).
Partnership for Urban South Hampshire (PUSH) Joint Committee
Page 6 of 6
Guidance notes on
completing
the 2013/14 annual
r
etur
n
1 You must
apply
proper
practices
for
preparing this annual
return. Proper
practices
are found
in
the
Pra
c
t
i
t
i
o
n
er
s
Guides* which
are updated from
time
to
time
and
contain everything
you
should
need
t
o
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 may encounter.
2 Make sure that your
annual
return is complete
(i.e.
no empty red
boxes),
and is properly signed and
dated. Avoid making any
amendments
to the completed return. But, if this is
unavoidable,
make
sure the
amendments
are drawn to the attention of and approved by the body, 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 of eyes, perhaps a 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.
H
o
w
e
v
er
,
you must
notify
the
external auditor
of
any change
of
Clerk, Responsible Financial Officer
or
Ch
a
i
r
.
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 body
holds
any short-term
investments,
note
t
h
e
i
r
value
on the bank
reconciliation.
The
external auditor
must be
able
to
agree
your bank
reconciliation
t
o
Box 8 on the
Accounting
statements. You must provide an explanation for any difference
b
e
t
w
ee
n
Box 7 and Box 8. More
help
on bank
reconciliation is available in
the
Pra
c
t
i
t
i
o
n
er
s
Gu
i
d
e
s
*
.
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.
The
external auditor
wants to k
n
ow
that you understand the
reasons
for
all variances.
I
n
c
l
u
d
e
a
complete analysis
to support your
explanation. There
are a number of
examples provided in
the
Pra
c
t
i
t
i
o
n
er
s
Guides*
to
assist
you.
7
If
the
external auditor
has to
review unsolicited information,
or
receives
an
incomplete
bank
reconciliation,
or you do not
fully explain variances, this
may
incur additional
costs for
which
the
a
u
d
i
t
o
r
will
make a charge.
8 Make sure that your
accounting
statements add up and the
balance carried
forward from the
p
re
v
i
o
us
year
(
Bo
x
7 of 2012
)
equals
the
balance
brought forward
in
the current year
(
Bo
x
1 of 2014
)
.
9 Do not complete section 3. The
external
auditor will complete it at the conclusion of their audit.
Completion checklist ‘No’ answers mean you may not have met requirements
Done?
All
sections
All red boxes have been completed?
All
information
requested by the
external
auditor has been sent with this annual
return?
Please
refer to your notice of audit.
Section 1
Approval by the body confirmed by
signature
of Chair of meeting approving the
accounting statements?
An
explanation
of
significant variations
from last year to this year is provided?
Bank
reconciliation
as at 31 March 2014 agreed to Box 8?
An
explanation
of any
difference
between Box 7 and Box 8 is provided?
Section 2
For any statement to which the response is ‘no’, an
explanation
is provided?
Section 4
All red boxes completed by
internal
audit and
explanations
provided?
*Note: Governance and Accountability for Local Councils in England – A Practitioners’ Guides, is
available from NALC and SLCC representatives or Governance and Accountability for Internal Drainage
Boards in England A PractitionersGuides, is available from the ADA at The Association of Drainage
Authorities, 12 Cranes Drive, Surbiton, Surrey, KT5 8AL or from the NALC, SLCC or ADA websites - see
page 1 for addresses.