Access to bank accounts by councillors

Question

Our clerk is refusing to let any councillors have access to view the parish council bank account. On several occasions access to the statements via internet banking has been requested by the chair and another councillor who has been nominated to authorise payments. After all, how can they approve a payment if they have no idea what the balance is?  They have categorically been told by the clerk that as RFO she is the only person who is permitted access, nobody else has any need to access it and she will not grant them the authority. She said she produces a statement at each parish council meeting (which I have never seen, at best it has been a transaction list).  I mentioned I have only ever seen a transaction list and she said it was because internet banking will not allow her to download a statement.
Could anybody kindly point me in the direction of where we can have in writing that we can see the bank accounts.

Answer 1

I find it hard to believe that a statement can't be downloaded from the bank. One of my duties is to sit with the RFO every quarter and check all the bank statements against the printed lists for the accounting package we use. We have only one bank (out of three) that does not produce a statement and then only if there are no transactions that month.

Comments

As a clerk of 30+ years, I used to present a bank reconciliation every month.  Every time, the chairman of the meeting initialled every bank statement to indicate they had seen them and that they tallied with the reconciliation.  I also invited any councillor to inspect the financial records, including the bank statements at any convenient time.  The fact that councillors are being denied access to the bank statements is worrying in the extreme.  I would pass a resolution at the your next council meeting, duly agendered, that bank statements are presented to the next meeting.  As a clerk, if I refused, I would expect to be disciplined or worse.

Answer 2

I can’t find it now but there was a booklet produced about red flags for fraud and actions like you describe are top of the list

When I raised questions about finances in the past accusations were made against me claiming I was accusing the Clerk of fraud which I wasn’t

In my case I established that money was not included in the accounts or audit although it was recorded but I never received an apology
It doesn’t take a second to print a bank statement from an online account

Im not saying there’s anything wrong but just think how you’d feel if it was later discovered something was wrong

Comments

I’ve just found this online how can anyone steal that amount without anyone noticing http://www.p2pnetwork.org/latest-news/3428-parish-council-clerk-jailed-for-160-000-fraud.html

If you read the case above you will notice the telling line “ we thought Joanne was our friend “

Parish Councils don’t have friends they have Councillors and Employees each with specific roles

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If you think this fraud was bad, do a search from Brierley Town Council.  It was 5 or 6 years ago i think

Answer 3

Have to be honest, this would be a red flag to me.  When I was a clerk I certainly produced a bank reconciliation for every meeting which included a copy of the bank statement and my current council has a finance committee that is charged with checking the bank reconciliation every month.  It is a nonsense to say that statements can't be downloaded and even if, remotely, that were the case then statements would still be produced and sent to the clerk periodically.

My current council banks with Unity Trust bank which I believe a lot of councils use as they are specialists in the local government field.  They have various levels of access for accounts which includes access to view the account but not necessarily to set up payments or authorise them, which I do accept should be limited access as approved by the council.

Comments

It must not be forgotten that councillors have a "Joint and Several Liability" for the financial undertakings of the council. By requirement to meet this obligation they cannot be denied access to the accounts of the council even if delegated to a committee ( or an employee). Councillors should remember that when they raise their hands to vote to adopt end of year audit reports they are voting to take this responsibility. The passing of financial record keeping to say the clerk or an RFO does not remove this liability.

Answer 4

How long has this been going on for?
How do you ratify your payment schedule or certify your AGAR?

Ridiculous state of affairs!

Answer 5

Our bank does not let you print a 'statement' online, only a list of transactions.  But we do get paper statements every month.  As all Councillors are responsible for the finances I would have thought any Councillor could walk into the office and ask to see the statements.
In our case a list of banks balances is presented at every full Council meeting, as well as at the finance committee meetings, along with a income/outgoings report.