Responsible finance officer and internal auditor

Question

our parish council has elected one of their own as RFO and internal auditor

Is this legal? appears to be a joining of the 'gentlemans club'

Answer 1

It is possible for a councillor to act as RFO, although undesirable except as a temporary expedient. They may not receive payment while a councillor and for twelve months after ceasing to be a councillor.

The internal auditor must be independent of the council.  If you are saying that the RFO and internal auditor are one and the same, that is totally unacceptable.  If there is no effective internal auditor, you would be entitled to make a complaint to the external auditor, and there would be a real risk of the council failing its audit if it did not institute proper control procedures.

Comments

Thank you again for your advice. We have had 3 parish clerks resign in the last 10 months!! Gives you some idea what I am having to deal with