An auditor has given Morecambe Town Council a clean bill of health on its financial and governance procedures for 2024/25.
The council's annual internal audit said the council had achieved all its relevant internal control objectives.
These include keeping appropriate accounting records, complying with its financial regulations, and publishing required information on its website.
By law, parish councils such as Morecambe Town Council must have an independent audit carried out on their accounts and control systems each year.
The audit was carried out this year by Suffolk-based independent audit services firm Heelis & Lodge.
The audit covered the council’s financial systems, governance processes, and statutory compliance.
Its findings included that appropriate accounting records were properly kept throughout the financial year, the authority fully complied with its financial regulations, with payments supported by invoices, all expenditure approved and VAT appropriately accounted for, the council had an appropriate risk management procedure in place, which was followed, the council complied with all publication requirements under the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015, no irregularities were found with payroll, general reserves and earmarked reserves were deemed appropriate, proper internal controls were in place and a proper budgetary process was followed.
A council spokesperson said the auditors "praised the quality of documentation provided and the assistance provided by council staff throughout the process".
"We are obviously delighted to share the findings of the 2024-25 internal audit, which was conducted by a completely independent third-party audit specialist appointed by councillors that is well-respected and widely used across the sector," said Councillor Clark Kent, chairperson of Morecambe Town Council and its Finance and Governance Committee.
"Councillors in this administration have put a huge amount of time and effort into scrutinising the council’s finances, improving systems and putting robust processes in place over the past few years – including acting decisively to enact recommendations from past audits.
"On behalf of the council I’d like to extend particular thanks to council oficers for their hard work crafting the relevant policies and implementing robust procedures to get us to this point, as well as to the previous chair of the Finance and Governance Committee, former Councillor Brett Cooper, who oversaw much of their implementation during the financial year in question.
"Having been given a glowing assessment of our finance and governance procedures, the council hopes it will now be able to increasingly shift its focus towards delivering even better outcomes for the people of Morecambe."
The annual internal audit of the council in 2022/23 found that its "system of internal controls was not in place, adequate for the purpose intended and effective".
The auditor identified 20 'weaknesses' in Morecambe Town Council's processes for that financial year.
The town council was given several recommendations on areas to improve upon.
In 2023/24, the audit of accounts for Morecambe Town Council for the year could not be completed.
External auditor PKF Littlejohn, in its interim external audit report, said: "We have not been able to complete our review work in time to enable to smaller authority to publish the required documentation in line with statutory requirements."
A town council spokesperson said: "The 2023/24 internal and external audit processes aren't concluded yet, hence why there are interim notices issued on the website.
"The 2023/24 internal audit is being conducted by the same auditor as the 2022/23 internal audit.
"The 2022/23 internal audit included a number of recommendations for the council, following which the council published its responses and an action plan.
"With the 2023/24 internal audit process, we’re currently providing additional paperwork and answering any related follow-up queries to demonstrate that the council addressed any outstanding matters promptly during the following financial year.
"While the result of the 2024/25 audit shows that these have since been addressed, we’re keen to show the same auditor that first made the recommendations that this was done promptly in the following financial year."
Morecambe Town Council financial reports including audits can be found HERE.
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