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Governance and Accountability
The Practitioners’ Guide (‘the guide’) has been published by the Smaller Authorities Proper Practices Board to support the preparation by local (parish and town) councils of statutory annual accounting and governance statements.
This 2016 edition of the guide applies to annual returns commencing on or after 1 April 2016. It can be applied voluntarily to annual returns covering the period 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016.
The guide is intended as a working tool for local councils, providing not only the common ‘rules’ for completing an annual return for use by responsible finance officers, but also as a reference work for auditors, both internal and external, members, other officers and the public to aid understanding of the annual return and the reporting on the smaller authority’s governance and finances within it.
The technical support teams at NALC, Society of Local Council Clerks (SLCC), and Association of Drainage Authorities (ADA) support the guide.