The AGAR timetable, start to finish

The Annual Governance and Accountability Return is the one piece of paperwork every English parish and town council must complete every year, on a timetable set by statute and the external auditor. Here is the whole year in order.

31 March — financial year end

The accounts close. Everything that follows relates to the year that just ended. Get the bank reconciliation, asset register and VAT position tidy now — June is too late to start.

April–June — prepare and approve

The internal auditor reports; the council then approves, at a meeting and in this order, Section 1 (the governance statement) and Section 2 (the accounting statements) of the AGAR. Approval must be minuted. Smaller authorities whose gross income and expenditure are both under £25,000 may instead certify themselves exempt — but still complete the exemption certificate, still hold the public rights period, and still publish.

The exercise of public rights — the fixed point of the summer

Electors have the right to inspect the accounts for 30 working days, and that period must include the first ten working days of July. Working backwards, this is what fixes your approval deadline in practice — commonly the end of June. Publish the notice of public rights, the unaudited AGAR and the supporting information on the website before the period starts.

By 30 September — publish the outcome

Once the external auditor concludes (for non-exempt councils), publish the audited AGAR and the notice of conclusion of audit — commonly by 30 September.

December–January — precept

Not part of the AGAR, but the other immovable date of the clerk’s winter: the budget and precept request to the billing authority, usually due in January. Check your billing authority’s exact date — they vary.

Put the whole timetable in your calendar once

Our free statutory calendar contains every one of these milestones with a week’s warning, as a feed you subscribe to once in Outlook or Google Calendar. Your external auditor’s letter always takes precedence over the typical dates — read it and adjust.

England only (Wales has its own audit regime). General information, not legal or audit advice.