CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Trustees, Annual Report for the period From 01.01.2021 to 31.12.2021 Charity name. Paulton Village Hall Charlty reglstratlon number: 276144 Objectives and Activities SORP feferenGe Para 1.17 Summary of the purposes of the charity as set out in its overnin document Summary of the main activities in relation lo those purposes for the public benefil, in particular, the activities, projects or setvices identified in the accounts. To provide a facilily for all parishioners of Paullon and the surrounding areas. Para 1.17 and 1.19 The Vi112ge Hall is for all residenls and non- residents to use. The hall is booked for children's birthday parties, wedding anniversary parties, luner21 wakes. chrislenings and fund ialsing events. CuTFently there are 5 reoulaT hirers. a Pr8- School. 2 KaTate clubs. 1 badminton club. and a Pilales group. The Pre-school runs ovec 200 sessions aTrnually for ages 24 of 3 hours each session. These are attendèd, on average, by 10 children per session. The sports, groups run 5 sessions a week, 1.5 - 2 hours each session and are lor 2ges 5-80 years old. Trustees hold meelings lo discuss any issues arising at th8 hall. These meetings are lo discuss future plans and aclivilies. Thére is a meeling room which is used by th Parish Council lor their meetings. This room can also be booked by outside bodies for meetin s and Irainin courses. Charity training lor all lluslees was held in 2019. Statement confirming whether the trustees have had reg8rd to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit Pora 1.18 Addltional Informatlon (optlonall You ma choose lo include further statements where relevant about.. SORP refere￿e Para fj.38 Policy on grant making. P8r8 1.38 Policy on social investment including program related investment. Pard 1.38 Conlributlon made by volunteers. Other Achievements and Performance SORP ref8rén¢ The Charity continues to work closely with the Pre-school lo offer a sale environment lor the staff and the chilcsren. This has become vltal lo reduce the spread ol COVID-19. Summary of the main achievements of the charity. identifying the difference Ihe charity's woik has rnade to Ihe circumstances of ils beneficiaries and any wider benefits lo society as a whole. Pgra 1.20 An enclosed outdoor play area is provided which is extremely valuable In being able to provide OLJldoor aclivilies. Renovations and repairs are carried out as required. The hall is booked for children's and adull birthday parties and wedding anniversHire of Meeting Room
Hire of hall (private parties)
Rent from PPC
Refunds
Sundry Income
Grants
Total Receipts
**Payments 2021**
Petty Cash
Village Hall Administration & Marketing
Auditor
Building decorating, repairs & maintenance (Internal)
Building decorating, repairs & maintenance (External)
Cleaning
Sanitary/nappy disposal bins
Fire
Gas
Electricity
Security Alarm
Water
Telephone
Electrical work/annual testing
Memorial garden, plants & fowers for the hall area
Servicing, repairs & maintenance (non bldg)
Servicing/Repairs to boiler etc
Legal Fees
Annual Insurance Premium & PRS Licence
Sundries
Refunds
Total Payments
Surplus/defcit
Surplus|4035.24
24
2262.5
4000
1018.44
8.19
18636| |---|---| ||**29984.4**
0
2361.52
160
445.5
85
5240.1
2291.35
122.04
2638.79
1978
334
363.48
762.2
228
1554.32
1.74
842| ||**19408**| ||| ||**10576.3**| ## **Paulton Village Hall** # _**Independent Examiner’s Report 2021**_ ## _**Stuart J Pollard**_ _**Director Auditing Solutions Ltd**_ 2 ## **Background** Following the effective resignation of the Hall’s previous Independent Examiner, we were approached and appointed to undertake the work for the financial year ended 31[st] December 2021. ## **Internal Audit Approach** In undertaking our examination of the 2021 records, we have had regard to the materiality of transactions and their susceptibility to potential misrecording or misrepresentation in the year-end Accounts: however, given the relatively low volume of transactions and this being our first year undertaking the review, we have effectively undertaken a 100% check in several areas as detailed in the following report. Our programme of cover is designed to afford assurance that the Hall has appropriate financial systems in place that operate in a manner to ensure effective probity of transactions and controls being operated by the Trustees. The following report provides detail of the work undertaken and conclusions reached, together with any recommendations for improved control or record keeping procedures, the latter being further summarised in the appended Action Plan for the Trustees’ consideration and, where deemed appropriate, action is considered ideal to further strengthen controls / procedures, etc. ## **Overall Conclusion** We are pleased to conclude that, based on the overall satisfactory conclusions drawn from our programme of work, the Hall’s Trustees and managing officer have maintained adequate and effective internal control arrangements. Whilst there are no significant concerns arising, we have identified a few areas where we consider scope exists for improved working practices. Notwithstanding those matters, we have completed and signed the “Independent Examiner Certificate” for submission to the Charity Commission with the year’s Accounts with none of the identified areas for improvement considered as warranting formal comment therein. **This report has been prepared for the sole use of Paulton Village Hall . To the fullest extent permitted by law, no responsibility or liability is accepted by Auditing Solutions Ltd to any third party who purports to use or rely, for any reason whatsoever, on this report, its contents or conclusions.** 3 ## **Detailed Report** ## **Review of Accounting Arrangements & Bank Reconciliations** Our objective here is to ensure that the accounting records are being maintained accurately and currently and that no anomalous entries appear in the spreadsheet cashbook. The Hall has a single bank account in place with NatWest Bank plc. We have: - - Ensured that an appropriate analysis of receipts and payments exists in the spreadsheet cashbook; - Ensured the accurate carry forward of the 2020 closing balances to the 2021 records; - Ensured that the cashbook remains in balance throughout the year and at the financial year-end; - Checked and agreed the full year’s transactions in the cashbook agreeing detail to the supporting bank statements; and - Verified the accurate recording of detail on the monthly prepared bank reconciliations, also ensuring that no long-standing cheques or other anomalous reconciling entries exist at the financial year-end, also noting that the monthly reconciliations are subject to independent scrutiny and sign-off. ## _**Conclusions**_ _**We are pleased to record that there are no issues arising in this area.**_ ## **Corporate Governance** We understand that the Charity’s Constitution is the subject of current review and update and will, if re-appointed for 2022, check on the position and review the content of the final document at the time of that year’s review. ## _**Conclusions**_ _**We are pleased to record that there are no issues arising in this area currently and, as above, will review the revised Constitution at the time of our examination of the 2022 records.**_ ## **Review of Expenditure** Our aim here is to ensure that: - - Resources are released in accordance with the Hall’s approved procedures and approved budgets either by individual cheque, or by monthly / periodic direct debit; **24[th] February 2022** **Paulton Village Hall: 2021** **Auditing Solutions Ltd** 4 - Payments are supported by appropriate documentation, either in the form of an original trade invoice or other appropriate form of document confirming the payment as due and / or an acknowledgement of receipt, where no other form of invoice is available; and - All discounts due on goods and services supplied are identified and appropriate action taken to secure the discount. We have reviewed the procedures for the approval and processing of trader and other payments and consider them sound with trustees examining and signing cheques and initialling their counterfoils with payment invoices also initialled and identifying the cheque number. Due to their low volume, we have checked to ensure that each payment throughout the year is supported by a trade invoice or other appropriate supporting document. In checking the invoices held on file, it became apparent that full supporting documentation only existed for payments by cheque, with no detail of the regular direct debit payments held on file. Consequently, it appears that the Trustees are not examining any supporting documentation in this respect, although we understand that periodic detail is received, although generally not in hard copy format, of such payments. ## _**Conclusions and recommendation**_ _**We are pleased to report that no significant issues have been identified in this area, although we consider that, where payments are made by periodic direct debit, appropriate supporting documentation should be acquired and be provided to the Trustees for review and sign-of** ._ - _R1. Consideration should be given to the acquisition and / or provision of supporting documentation for payments made by direct debit to one of the cheque signatories for review and sign-off._ ## **Assessment and Management of Risk** We note that the Hall Charity is covered by insurance through Hiscox: we have examined the detailed schedule of cover and consider it appropriate for the Hall’s present requirements with Employer’s and Public Liability both set at £10 million, together with Fidelity Guarantee cover at £500,000 and Business Interruption – Loss of Revenue cover set at £30,000. ## _**Conclusions**_ _**As above, we consider that the level of insurance cover is appropriate for the Hall’s current level of activity, Obviously the Covid situation has impacted adversely on the level of hire income being generated in the last two years and, whilst not considering a formal recommendation necessary, we suggest that the level of Business Interruption cover be kept under review to ensure that, should the level of activity and income increase significantly, with income either**_ **24[th] February 2022** **Paulton Village Hall: 2021** **Auditing Solutions Ltd** 5 ## _**getting close to or exceeding the current £30,000 cover, the level of arranged cover be increased accordingly.**_ ## **Review of Income** In considering the Hall’s income streams, we aim to ensure that robust systems are in place to ensure the identification of all receivable income, to ensure that income is invoiced, where appropriate, in a timely manner with effective procedures in place to pursue recovery of any outstanding monies. Examination of the 2021 cashbook reveals that the major sources of income in the year are by way of Parish Council office rent, grants from B&NES to cover lost revenue due to Covid, together with hire income when the Hall was open for hire and occasional refunds of service expenditure (e.g., EDF, Water2Business and PHS). We note that the hire fees appear to have last been reviewed and approved in 2017 and suggest that, whilst acknowledging the impact of Covid and the desire to ensure optimum usage of the Hall, a further review should be undertaken to help ensure that the Hall running costs are covered as far as is reasonably possible whilst noting that a surplus has occurred in 2021 primarily due to the receipt of grants from B&NES totalling £18,636. A handwritten Hall booking diary is being maintained recording the name of the hirer and hire times. We note that regular hirers are generally invoiced at the end of each quarter, whilst casual hirers generally visit the Hall office, complete and sign a hire agreement form and pay the due fees by cash or cheque, which are then banked periodically. We have examined the September 2021 diary checking to ensure that a signed booking form is held for the casual hirers and that the fees due have been paid and banked within a reasonable time frame. Whilst no issues arise in that respect there is no clear audit trail from the booking diary through to invoices or identification of the receipt date of hire fees. Consequently, we suggest that, for casual hirers, the date when payment is received should ideally be recorded in the diary on the actual hire date. We note that a spreadsheet schedule of invoices raised for regular hirers is maintained and suggest that to further enhance the audit trail, the last hire entry in the booking diary for each quarter is annotated with the invoice reference number. Such action would provide a clear and more readily traceable audit trail to the invoicing / receipt of hire fees. To gain assurance that appropriate controls are in place, we have examined income arising from hire of the Hall in September 2021 ensuring that the appropriate fees have been charged in accordance with the approved scale of fees and charges and been recovered in an appropriate time span, although, as indicated above, the trail from booking to invoicing / receipt of hire fees is not easily identifiable. We also note that casual hirers are required to pay refundable deposits, which are retained securely locked in the office safe and then returned intact to the **Paulton Village Hall: 2021 24[th] February 2022** **Auditing Solutions Ltd** 6 hirer after the hire date and confirmation that no damage has occurred. No formal record is maintained of the receipt or repayment of these deposits which could, in the event of any dispute over the repayment, generate potential problems for the office staff. Consequently, we suggest that a formal register of deposits be maintained identifying the date of receipt, form of receipt (Cash / cheque), booking date, date of repayment and signature of the hirer acknowledging receipt of the refund deposit. ## _**Conclusions and recommendations**_ _**As indicated above, we consider that there is potential for improved recording of bookings, cross-referencing of the booking diary to invoices and / or date of receipt of fees, recording of deposits received and repaid, together with the potential need for a formal review and possible uplift in the level of fees being charged.**_ - _R2. Hall hire fees should be subjected to periodic review and, if deemed appropriate, increase._ - _R3. An effective means of cross-referencing diarised bookings to either invoices raised or the dates when payments are received should be implemented to provide an effective audit trail and officers’ ease of ensuring that all hire fees have been invoiced and / or paid in a reasonable time frame._ - _R4. To afford appropriate protection to staff in the event of any query re the repayment of Hall deposits, a formal record should be developed as indicated in the body of the report with a signature obtained from the hirer confirming receipt of the refunded deposit._ ## **Petty Cash Account** We note that a small petty cash account is in operation with sporadic roundsum top-ups, generally of £100 as and when required. We have checked the transactions recorded in the manually maintained petty cash account record for the full financial year and to date in 2022 (in all less than two dozen) ensuring that each was supported by an appropriate invoice or till receipt. We have also checked the physical cash holding at the date of our review (£37.00) visit and are pleased to record that it matched the petty cash book record of transactions and rolling balance. ## _**Conclusions**_ _**No matters of concern have been identified in this respect, although we note that the petty cash balance is not included in the Accounts detail provided in the Charity Commission Annual Return.**_ ## **Statement of Accounts and Charity Commission Annual Return** **24[th] February 2022** **Paulton Village Hall: 2021** **Auditing Solutions Ltd** 7 The Charity Commission require the Trustees to submit an Annual Return reporting the year’s financial transactions and, whilst not subject to a formal audit being below the required financial value for such, an Independent Examination of the Charity’s records is required to be undertaken with a Certificate provided confirming compliance with the Charity Commission’s reporting requirements. ## _**Conclusions**_ _**On the basis of the generally satisfactory conclusions drawn from our review programme for the year, we have signed of the Independent Examiner’s Certificate with no issues raised requiring formal notification to the Charity Commission. We do, however, urge that the Trustees and oficers give due consideration to the few issues raised in the above detailed report taking appropriate action to strengthen controls and recording of Hall bookings accordingly.**_ **24[th] February 2022** **Paulton Village Hall: 2021** **Auditing Solutions Ltd** 8 |**Re**|**Recommendation**|**Response**| |---|---|---| |**c.**||| |**No.**||| - **Response** - All invoices/utility bills to be copied and attached to the monthly bank reconciliation upon receipt. ## **Review of Payments** - R1 Consideration should be given to the acquisition and / or provision of supporting documentation for payments made by direct debit to one of the cheque signatories for review and sign-off. ## **Review of Hall Income** - R2 Hall hire fees should be subjected to periodic review and, if deemed appropriate, increase. - R3 An effective means of cross-referencing diarised bookings to either invoices raised or the dates when payments are received should be implemented to provide an effective audit trail and officers’ ease of ensuring that all hire fees have been invoiced and / or paid in a reasonable time frame. - Previous review undertaken in 2017. This has been diarised to review annually in November when preparing the budget for the year ahead. Due to challenges faced over the last 2 years and the grants received it is recommended that the next review is undertaken in November 2022. As per the recommendation from the Auditor, all officers now add the date payment was made to the diary for occasional hirers. - R4 To afford appropriate protection to staff in the event of any query re the repayment of Hall deposits, a formal record should be developed as indicated in the body of the report with a signature obtained from the hirer confirming receipt of the refunded deposit. - A form has been introduced to sign for receipt and return of the holding deposit for hirers. All officers have been informed of the requirement to complete this form. **24[th] February 2022** **Paulton Village Hall: 2021** **Auditing Solutions Ltd**