The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:
We have considered the nature of the company's industry and its control environment, and reviewed the company's documentation of their policies and procedures relating to fraud and compliance with laws and regulations. We also enquired of management about their own identification and assessment of the risks and irregularities.
We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory framework that the company operates in, and identified the key laws and regulations that:
- had a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. These included UK Companies Act, tax legislation, pension legislation etc; and
- do not have a direct effect on the financial statements but compliance with which may be fundamental to the company's ability to operate or to avoid a material penalty.
We discussed among the audit engagement team regarding the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the organization for fraud and how and where fraud might occur in the financial statements.
In common with all audits under ISAs (UK), we are required to perform specific procedures to respond to the risk of management override. In addressing the risk of fraud through management override of controls, we tested the appropriateness of journal entries and other adjustments; assessed whether the judgements made in making the accounting estimates are indicative of a potential bias; and evaluated the business rationale of any significant transactions that are unusual or outside the normal course of business.
In addition to the above, our procedures to respond to the risks identified included the following:
- reviewing financial statement disclosures by testing to supporting documentation to assess compliance with provisions of relevant laws and regulations described as having a direct effect on the financial statements;
- performing analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships that may indicate risks of material misstatement due to fraud: and
- enquiring of management and external legal counsel concerning actual and potential litigation and claims, and instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations
There are inherent limitations in the audit procedures described above and, the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely we would become aware of it.
A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the accounts is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.