The Clerk had submitted the annual accounts for the official Government audit, which this year had been carried out by PKF Littlejohn LLP. The accounts had been advertised and made available for public inspection from 12 July to 20 August 2021 in accordance with the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014. Prior to this, an internal audit was carried out by Mr R Cottam of Great Eccleston, who agreed the accounts and found them to be correct. The Parish Council is extremely grateful to Mr Cottam for his help in this regard.
The official audit has now been concluded and please find below the relevant Notice and accompanying documents for your attention:-
Singleton Parish Council
Notice of conclusion of audit
Annual Governance & Accountability Return for the year ended 31 March 2021
Sections 20(2) and 25 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014
Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/234)
- The audit of accounts for Singleton Parish Council for the year ended 31 March 2021 has been completed and the accounts have been published.
- The Annual Governance & Accountability Return is available for inspection by any local government elector of the area of Singleton Parish Council on application to:
Verena Henderson
Clerk to Singleton Parish Council
4 Chesham Lodge
Great Eccleston
Preston PR3 0ZG
Inspections may be made from: –
Friday 1 October to Monday 1 November 2021
Between the hours of 10.00am – 5.00pm
- Copies will be provided to any person on payment of £1.00 for each copy of the Annual Governance & Accountability Return.
Announcement made by: Verena Henderson, Clerk to Singleton Parish Council
Date of announcement: 30 September 2021
Annual Governance and Accountability Return 2020/21 Part 3 Page 6 of 6
Section 3 – External Auditor Report and Certificate 2020/21
In respect of SINGLETON PARISH COUNCIL – LA0201
1 Respective responsibilities of the body and the auditor
This authority is responsible for ensuring that its financial management is adequate and effective and that it has a
sound system of internal control. The authority prepares an Annual Governance and Accountability Return in
accordance with Proper Practices which:
• summarises the accounting records for the year ended 31 March 2021; and
• confirms and provides assurance on those matters that are relevant to our duties and responsibilities as
external auditors.
Our responsibility is to review Sections 1 and 2 of the Annual Governance and Accountability Return in accordance
with guidance issued by the National Audit Office (NAO) on behalf of the Comptroller and Auditor General (see note
below). Our work does not constitute an audit carried out in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK
& Ireland) and does not provide the same level of assurance that such an audit would do.
2 External auditor report 2020/21
3 External auditor certificate 2020/21
We certify that we have completed our review of Sections 1 and 2 of the Annual Governance and Accountability
Return, and discharged our responsibilities under the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014, for the year ended 31
March 2021.
On the basis of our review of Sections 1 and 2 of the Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR), in our opinion the information in Sections 1 and 2 of the AGAR is in accordance with Proper Practices and no other matters have come to our attention giving cause for concern that relevant legislation and regulatory requirements have not been met.
Other matters not affecting our opinion which we draw to the attention of the authority:
We note that the smaller authority did not comply with Regulation 15 of the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 as it failed to make proper provision during the year 2021/22 for the exercise of public rights, since the period for the exercise of public rights did not include the first 10 working days of July. As a result, the smaller authority must answer ‘No’ to Assertion 4 of the Annual Governance Statement for 2021/22 and ensure that it makes proper provision for the exercise of public rights during 2022/23.
The annual internal audit report focuses on a series of internal control objectives covering an authority’s key financial and accounting systems and concludes whether, in all significant respects, the internal control objectives were being achieved throughout the financial year to a standard adequate to meet the needs of the authority. We note that the internal auditor has not provided a conclusion on the following internal control objective: L. The annual internal audit report will inform the authority’s response to assertions 2 and 6 in the annual governance statement. As a result, the authority must ensure that assurance that has not been provided via these control objectives has been sought elsewhere.
- Note: the NAO issued guidance applicable to external auditors’ work on limited assurance reviews in Auditor Guidance Note
AGN/02. The AGN is available from the NAO website (www.nao.org.uk)
PKF LITTLEJOHN LLP
External Auditor Name
External Auditor Signature
28/09/2021
Date