Finance and spending

Where our money comes from

The majority of the Authority’s funding is provided by Central Government; more specifically the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) as the National Park Grant. In addition to this, income is earned from a variety of other sources such as other specific grants for projects, planning fee income, investment income, and income in relation to the use of Authority property by third parties, car park charges and retail sales.

Financial planning and budgeting

The Authority prepares a Medium Term Financial Strategy; the basis of this is included in the Business Plan. These forecasts are reviewed annually by management. The Authority approves a balanced start budget in advance of the start of the financial year which, wherever practical, provides indicative budgets for the following two years. The Finance Risk Audit and Standards Committee receives quarterly updates on budgetary performance and adjustments to the budget within the year.

Chief Financial Officer (s151 Officer/Treasurer)

Section 151 of the Local Government Act 1972 requires that the Authority makes arrangements for the proper administration of its financial affairs and must appoint a Chief Financial Officer who must be a Member of one of the recognised accountancy bodies. The s151 Officer is also responsible for ensuring that there are adequate provisions for the internal audit of systems which is currently undertaken by Veritau Ltd.

With effect from 1 April 2020, the Authority has appointed Peter Williams as the s151 Officer.

Contact:

The Old Vicarage, Bondgate, Helmsley, York YO62 5BP

Statutory accounting and reporting

Our accounts are prepared in line with appropriate accounting standards and practices and have a reporting period from 1 April to 31 March in the following year.

The reporting dates issued by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) for the 2020/21 financial accounts are 31 July 2021 for the draft accounts and 30 September 2021 for the full audited statement of financial accounts. The accounts were signed on the 5 October following completion of the audit, and were discussed at the National Park Authority meeting on the 27 September 2021. The MHCLG deadline for the value for money part of the audit is 3 months after completion of the audit of the financial statements and will be published along with the final audit opinion at that time. The final audited financial accounts for 2020/21 can be found below.

Final Accounts 2020/21 (pdf)

The Authority’s current auditors are:

Grant Thornton UK LLP, No 1 Whitehall Riverside, Leeds LS1 4BN

You may inspect our accounts and certain related documents and also raise questions with the external auditor. Details of how to do this can be found in the public rights of inspection notice which can be found under ‘Useful links and information to download’ below.