Statement of Accounts

Financial Services Team   01795 417531   finance@swale.gov.uk  
Last updated on 25 August 2010   Becoming a high performing organisation

Overview

This page provides an Introduction to our accounts and asks if you want to put forward your views as we are consulting on how our Accounting information is presented. It also highlights your rights regarding the Statement of Accounts, provides the Audit of Accounts letter and you can download key financial documents.

Introduction to our accounts

The Council must prepare an Annual Statement of Accounts. The purpose of the published statement of accounts is to give electors, local taxpayers, members of the Council and other interested parties clear information about the Council's finances.

The statements summarise:

• the cost of services provide by the Council in the year
• how services were paid for; and
• the Council's assets and liabilities at the year end.

The format of the accounts is prescribed by the Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting in the United Kingdom (commonly referred to as the 'Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP)). The latest set of fully audited accounts is the Statement of Accounts for 2008-09, however the draft Statement of Accounts for 2009-10 is now also available. The 2008-09 accounts were subject to an independent audit by the Audit Commission in July 2008. The auditors produce an annual Governance Report and an Audit and Inspection Letter to members summarising their main findings following the conclusion of the audit. We also produce a Summary of our Statement of Accounts where some figures have been simplified to help make our accounts easier to understand.

These documents and the accounts for previous years can be found below.

We are consulting on how our Accounting information is presented

Each year the Council is legally required to produce a Statement of Accounts summarising the Council's financial activities and giving details of the overall financial position.

Much of the information in the document is of a technical nature satisfying both statutory requirements and local authority procedures, so councils are now being encouraged to produce summary accounts.

The summaries are intended to be a more user friendly alternative to the more detailed Statement of Accounts publication. We are interested in your views about their look, content and any additional information you would like to see included in the summaries.  

You can download the Summary of Accounts and Statement of Accounts here.

Please put forward your views by completing our quick onlineFinancial Accounts questionnaire.

Statement of Accounts - Your Rights

Your Right to Inspect the Council's Accounts

When the Council has finalised the accounts for the previous financial year, usually towards the end of June, we advertise that they are available for electors to look at. This advertisement, 'The Notice of Public Rights',is placed in the local press and on this website. The notice gives details of a period of 20 working days during which you may to look at the accounts and supporting documentation. A draft copy of the accounts is available on this website or you can ask us for a copy. You can also get copies of any relevant documents, although there may be a copying charge.

Ask the External Auditor Questions about the Accounts

You can ask the Council's External Auditor questions about the accounts for the year that they are auditing. However, the Auditor does not have to answer questions about anything that is not relevant to the accounts.

The Notice of public rights will explain how you can do this.

Challenge the Accounts

If you think that Swale Borough Council has spent money unlawfully you can object to the Accounts by sending the Auditor a formal written 'notice of objection.' You may also object if you think that there is something in the Accounts which the Auditor should formally tell the public in a 'public interest' report. The Notice of Public Rights gives details of who you should send your objection to.

Further Information

These notes provide brief details in relation to your rights to inspect, question and object to the Council's accounts.

If you need more detail you should refer to the Audit Commission publication 'Councils' Accounts Your Rights. As well as describing your rights in relation to the Statement of Accounts it also explains the rights you have at other times to give the Auditor information.

The Audit Commission website includes further detail, as well as this publication, and a form to use if you wish to make an objection.

Audit of Accounts

Swale Borough Council
AUDIT OF ACCOUNTS YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2010
Audit Commission Act 1998, sections 15 - 16
Accounts and Audit Regulations 2003 Regulations 13, 14 & 16

The Council’s accounts are subject to external audit by Andy Mack, District Auditor of Audit Commission, 16 South Park, Sevenoaks, Kent TN13 1AN. Members of the public and local government electors have certain rights in the audit process:

1. From 8 July 2010 to 4 August 2010 between 9:00am and 4:30pm each weekday any person may inspect the accounts of the Council for the year ended 31 March 2010 and certain related documents (comprising books, deeds, contracts, bills, vouchers and receipts) at the address given below. They may also make copies of the accounts and documents.
2. From 10am on 5 August 2010 until the conclusion of the audit process, a local government elector for the area of the Council, or his/her representative, may ask the auditor questions about the accounts. Please contact the auditor at the address given above to make arrangements to ask any questions.
3. From 10am on 5 August 2010 until the conclusion of the audit process, a local government elector for the area of the Council, or his/her representative, may object to the Council’s accounts asking that the auditor issue a report in the public interest (under section 8 of the Audit Commission Act 1998) and/or apply to the court for a declaration that an item in the accounts is contrary to law (under section 17 of the Audit Commission Act 1998). Written notice of a proposed objection and the grounds on which it is made must be sent to the auditor at the address given above and copied to me at the address given below.

Dated 14 June 2010

Eric Fisher, Interim Head of Finance
Swale Borough Council,
Swale House,
East Street,
Sittingbourne,
ME10 3HT
(telephone no. 01795 417136)

Financial Accounts - Key Documents

The following finance documents are provided in PDF format.

Please Note: All Information Leaflets within this page open up in a  new browser window.