Party statements of accounts

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Overview

The Political Parties, Elections and Refendums Act (PPERA) requires all registered parties and large accounting units to prepare and publish financial accounts in a format specified in the statement of accounts determined by The Electoral Commission.  The statement of accounts ensures a standard approach to the application of accounting policies and facilitates meaningful comparisons between parties by providing an holistic view of party finances. The statement of accounts will bring together other information already available on parties' financial activities.

Information regarding generally accepted accounting principles may be obtained from the Accounting Standards Board.

Common accounting year

Where a party has representation at any of the one of the following, it is required to have an accounting year of 1 January to 31 December:

• Westminster Parliament;
• Scottish Parliament;
• National Assembly for Wales;
• Northern Ireland Assembly;
• European Parliament.

All other parties may set an accounting year of any 12 month period, as specified in their financial scheme.

Submission of statement of accounts

A party or accounting unit which has total income or gross expenditure of less than £250,000 is required to submit their statement of accounts to the Commission within three months of their year end. Therefore, parties and accounting units whose year is 1 January to 31 December must submit the statement of accounts to the Commission no later than 31 March the following year.

Where the £250,000 threshold is breached, the statement of accounts must be audited by a qualified auditor. In order to enable this to be done, an additional three months is allowed for the submission of the statement of accounts. A statement of accounts for a year ending 31 December will have to be submitted to the Commission by 30 June.

Reporting thresholds Important information

Following the implementation of the 2006 Electoral Administration Act (EAA) parts of the Statements of Account guidance is now outdated:

New guidance will be issued shortly. If you have any queries please contact:

Policy and Election finance
Trevelyan House
30 Great Peter Street
London SW1 2HW

Telephone: 020 7271 0616
Email: pef@electoralcommission.org.uk

The format and content of the statement of accounts to be submitted by parties varies according to the total income or gross expenditure incurred by a party or accounting unit.

For parties whose total income or gross expenditure is	For accounting units whose total income or gross expenditure is	Requirements
		Statement of Accounts: Cashbook manual Cashbook reconciliation Appendix
		Cyfriflen: Llawlyfr Llyfr Arian Cysoni'r Atodiad
	Below £25,000	No requirement to submit a statement of accounts.  However, the treasurer is still responsible for maintaining accounting records in a form that is sufficient to show and explain the unit's financial transactions at any time.
Below £5,000 [guidance notes]	N/A	Overview of political and financial activities; Receipts and payments account for the year that shows all cash receipts and expenditure reconciled to changes in its funds; Statement of assets and liabilities in lieu of a balance sheet.
Between £5,000 and £250,000 [guidance notes]	Between £25,000 and £250,000 [guidance notes]	Overview of political and financial activities; Income and expenditure account for the year that shows all the resources available to the party/accounting unit and all expenditure incurred by it, reconciled to all changes in its funds; Balance sheet that shows the assets, liabilities and funds of the party/accounting unit; Notes to the accounts to explain accounting policies adopted and explain or expand upon the information contained in the accounting statements to provide further useful information.  This also includes an analysis of the figures in the accounts and the relationships between them.
Above £250,000 [guidance notes]	Above £250,000 [guidance notes]	As for the reporting requirements for parties/accounting units in the between £5,000 and £250,000 band and in addition: Cashflow statement showing the generations and uses of cash during the period to emphasise the difference between cash and a party's/accounting unit's net surplus or loss; Statement of total recognised gains and losses reporting all gains/losses recognised during the year, showing the total return earned on the resources under the party's/accounting unit's control.