VPRS 17621 Annual Statement of Account

Successive Local Government Acts since 1874 have required municipalities to prepare a statement showing their financial position for each year ending the 30th September. Annual Statements are audited and then presented to council where they are certified as correct by the Shire President/Mayor, the Town Clerk and the Treasurer.Section 421 of the Local Government Act 1915 stipulated that councils balance their accounts to the 30 September every year. Contained within each statement of balance was to be the following type of information:"...an account of all accounts made, contracts entered into, moneys received and moneys paid by the council during the preceding year, and of all assets and liabilities of the municipality..."The following sections of the same legislation further directed that auditing be carried out on such documents soon after their completion and that auditor's signatures be affixed to the aforesaid documents to prove their validity.The Annual Statements of Account record the following information: Shire income and expenditure, balance sheet, contracts, assets and liabilities, including estimated values of council properties, schedule of plant, and a statement of rates. Each Statement also contained the date it was audited and approved by the Government Auditor and when it was approved by Council. The Statements included the names of the Shire President, Councillors and Council Officers.The Statements of Account were commonly printed and distributed and were often bound into volumes containing many Statements in a single volume.The statements in this series have been bound except for for the period 1989/90 to 1991/92 which are kept in individually printed editions.