Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue a Report of the Auditors that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud.
The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below.
As part of our planning process:
- We enquired of management the systems and controls the company has in place, the areas of the financial statements that are mostly susceptible to the risk of irregularities and fraud, and whether there was any known, suspected or alleged fraud. The company did not inform us of any known, suspected or alleged fraud.
- We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks applicable to the company. We determined that the following were most relevant: FRS 102, the Companies Act 2006, health and safety legislation, and employment legislation
- We considered the incentives and opportunities that exist in the company, including the extent of management bias, which present a potential for irregularities and fraud to be perpetuated, and tailored our risk assessment accordingly.
Using our knowledge of the company, together with the discussions held with the company at the planning stage, we formed a conclusion on the risk of misstatement due to irregularities including fraud and tailored our procedures according to this risk assessment.
The key procedures we undertook to detect irregularities including fraud during the course of the audit included:
- Identifying and testing journal entries, in particular those that were significant and unusual
- Reviewing the financial statement disclosures and determining whether accounting policies have been appropriately applied.
- Reviewing and challenging the assumptions and judgements used by management in their significant accounting estimates, in particular in relation to depreciation.
- Assessing the extent of compliance, or lack of, with the relevant laws and regulations.
- Testing revenue lines, including obtaining evidence of fee agreements, for evidence of management bias and irregularities.
- Performing a physical verification of key assets
- Obtaining third-party confirmation of material bank and loan balances.
- Documenting and verifying all significant related party balances and transactions.
- Reviewing documentation for discussions of irregularities including fraud.
Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that we may not have detected some material misstatements in the financial statements even though we have properly planned and performed our audit in accordance with auditing standards. The primary responsibility for the prevention and detection of irregularities and fraud rests with the directors of the entity.
A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council's website at www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our Report of the Auditors.