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 an auditor's report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but it 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 out procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below꞉
We obtained a general understanding of the legal and regulatory framework applicable to the entity through enquiry and discussion with management concerning their understanding of relevant laws and regulations, and the entity’s policies and procedures regarding compliance, and through our understanding of the company’s industry and regulations. These included but were not limited to compliance with Companies Act 2006 and FRS 102.
We designed audit procedures to respond to the risk, recognizing that the risk of not detecting a material misstatement due to fraud is higher than the risk of not detecting one resulting from error, as fraud may involve deliberate concealment.
We focused on laws and regulations that could give rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements. Our tests included, but were not limited to꞉
- Inquiring of management and, where appropriate, those charged with governance, as to whether the company is in compliance with laws and regulations, and discussing their policies and procedures regarding compliance with laws and regulations;
- Inspecting correspondence, if any, with relevant licensing or regulatory authorities;
- Communicating identified laws and regulations to the engagement team and remaining alert to any indications of non- compliance throughout our audit;
- Review of minutes of board meetings throughout the period; and
- Considering the risk of acts by the company which were contrary to applicable laws and regulations, including fraud.
In addition, we evaluated the directors’ and management’s incentives and opportunities for fraudulent manipulation of the financial statements, including the risk of management override of controls, and determined that the principal risks related to꞉ posting manual journal entries to manipulate financial performance, management bias through judgements and assumptions in significant accounting estimates, in particular in relation to revenue recognition (which we pinpointed to the completeness assertion), and significant one‑off or unusual transactions.
Our audit procedures in relation to fraud included but were not limited to꞉
- Making enquiries of the directors and management on whether they had knowledge of any actual, suspected or alleged fraud;
- Gaining an understanding of the internal controls established to mitigate risks related to fraud;
- Discussing amongst the engagement team the risks of fraud; and
- Addressing the risks of fraud through management override of controls by performing journal entry testing
There are inherent limitations in the audit procedures described above and the primary responsibility for the prevention and detection of irregularities including fraud rests with management. As with any audit, there remained a risk of non‑detection of irregularities, as these may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations or the override of internal controls.
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 auditor’s report.