As a Parish Council, we have a statutory duty through the Local Audit & Accountability Act 2014 and the Accounts & Audit Regulations 2015 to inform our residents and tax payers how we spend our money in respect of our accounting and auditing procedures. We do this in a number of ways:

At a normal Parish Council meeting, the Parish Councillors approve all payments to be made. These payments and the amounts requested are shown on the agenda under the relevant agenda item. Councillors also receive and approve bank reconciliations and also approve budget monitoring each quarter.

An internal auditor is appointed by the Council to review the accounts and all aspects of internal control.  The internal auditor (who is independent from the Council) then reports findings back to the Council and signs the auditors annual report on the Annual Governance and Accountability Review (AGAR) to confirm that the council’s system of control is competent and operating transparently.

There were changes made to the external auditing process in 20170. Any small Parish Council with expenditure less than £25,000 are now subject to the requirements within the Transparency Code for Smaller Authorities and are eligible to exempt themselves from an external audit. The reasoning behind the change has been driven by local residents are best placed to monitor the Council and to bring them to account.

An Internal Audit will still be undertaken and the Council are still required to publish the same amount of documentation as in prior years. However it is now also a legal requirement through the Transparency Code for Smaller Authorities that we publish certain documents on this website relating to accountancy and the audit process and these can be found below.

Because Osbaston Parish Council currently manages expenditure under £25,000, we opt to certify as exempt from an external audit each year. If expenditure was to exceed £25,000, then an external audit will be carried out. 

If you are a registered local government elector (i.e. you appear on the electoral register for the area covered by the Council) you have legal rights to inspect, ask questions about and challenge items in your council's accounts. For more information, the National Audit Office has published a guide - Council Accounts - a guide to your rights