Millom Town Council
Millom Town Council was formed in 1974 when the parish boundaries changed from Cumberland.
The authority must comply with Proper Practices in completing Sections 1 and 2 of this AGAR. Proper Practices are found in the Practitioners’ Guide* which is updated from time to time and contains everything needed to prepare successfully for the financial year-end and the subsequent work by the external auditor.
Make sure that the AGAR is complete (no highlighted boxes left empty) and is properly signed and dated. Any amendments must be approved by the authority and properly initialled.
The authority should receive and note the Annual Internal Audit Report before approving the Annual Governance Statement and the accounts.
Use the checklist provided below to review the AGAR for completeness before returning it to the external auditor by email or post (not both) no later than 30 June 2025.
The Annual Governance Statement (Section 1) must be approved on the same day or before the Accounting Statements (Section 2) and evidenced by the agenda or minute references.
The Responsible Financial Officer (RFO) must certify the accounts (Section 2) before they are presented to the authority for approval. The authority must, in this order: consider, approve and sign the accounts.
The RFO is required to commence the public rights period as soon as practical after the date of the AGAR approval.
You must inform your external auditor about any change of Clerk, Responsible Financial Officer or Chair, and provide relevant authority-owned generic email addresses and telephone numbers.
Make sure that the copy of the bank reconciliation to be sent to your external auditor with the AGAR covers all the bank accounts. If the authority holds any short-term investments, note their value on the bank reconciliation. The external auditor must be able to agree the bank reconciliation to Box 8 on the accounting statements (Section 2, page 5). An explanation must be provided of any difference between Box 7 and Box 8. More help on bank reconciliation is available in the Practitioners’ Guide*.
Explain fully significant variances in the accounting statements on page 5. Do not just send a copy of the detailed accounting records instead of this explanation. The external auditor wants to know that you understand the reasons for all variances. Include complete numerical and narrative analysis to support the full variance.
If the bank reconciliation is incomplete or variances not fully explained then additional costs may be incurred.
Make sure that the accounting statements add up and that the balance carried forward from the previous year (Box 7 of 2024) equals the balance brought forward in the current year (Box 1 of 2025).
The Responsible Financial Officer (RFO), on behalf of the authority, must set the commencement date for the exercise of public rights of 30 consecutive working days which must include the first ten working days of July.
The authority must publish on the authority website/webpage the information required by Regulation 15 (2), Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015, including the period for the exercise of public rights and the name and address of the external auditor before 1 July 2025.
*Governance and Accountability for Smaller Authorities in England — a Practitioners’ Guide to Proper Practices, can be downloaded from www.nalc.gov.uk or from www.ada.org.uk
Annual Governance and Accountability Return 2024/25 Form 3 Page 2 of 6
Local Councils, Internal Drainage Boards and other Smaller Authorities®
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APRIL 30TH: Methodist Church meeting room
MAY 28TH: Methodist Church meeting room
JUNE 25TH: Methodist Church meeting room
JULY 30TH: Methodist Church meeting room
All meetings will commence at 07.00pm unless otherwise stated on
the agenda.