The role of the Responsible Finance Officer
Grindleford Parish Council clerk is also the Responsible Finance Officer.
Governance.
The business of the Council Is governed by its Code of Conduct, to ensure fairness, impartiality and accountability. Each year, Councillors make a declaration of any disclosable business interest and excuse themself from participating from any business in which they may be partisan.
Finance
The financial business of the Council is governed by the relevant Finance Regulations, updated in 2024.
Audit
The Council’s accounts are audited annually.
Each year all parish councils complete a set of AGAR (annual government accounting reports) including
- An accounting statement
- An annual governance statement
- An internal audit
- A bank reconciliation based on our income and expenditure account,
- A risk register for the Council
- Our asset register
- and an Explanation of Variances, if areas of spend significantly exceed or are less than the previous year’s.
All of these papers are subject to internal audit, by a qualified auditor. As we do not have a large turnover, we are not usually subject to external audit but a declaration of compliance must be submitted to the external auditor, who conduct 5% checks on smaller councils.
The Council banks with Lloyds Business Banking and each payment transaction must be agreed for payment at a parish council meeting and authorised by three Councillors. All payments must be recorded in the minutes. The clerk produces regular budget reports and prepares the audit papers based on income and expenditure records kept throughout the year.