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 auditors’ report 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.
Based on our understanding of the LLP and industry, we identified that the principal risks of non-compliance with
laws and regulations related to the Companies Act 2006, as applied to limited liability partnerships by the Limited
Liability Partnerships (Accounts and Audit) (Application of Companies Act 2006) Regulations 2008, and we
considered the extent to which non-compliance might have a material effect on the financial statements. We
evaluated management’s incentives and opportunities for fraudulent manipulation of the financial statements
(including the risk of override of controls), and determined that the principal risks were related to the manipulation
of financial data to present a more favourable financial or capital position. Audit procedures performed by the
engagement team included:
• Enquiries with management, including consideration of known or suspected instances of non-compliance
with laws and regulations and fraud;
• Reviewing relevant meeting minutes, including those of the members' Board of Directors; and
• Designing audit procedures to incorporate unpredictability around the nature, timing or extent of our
testing.
There are inherent limitations in the audit procedures described above. We are less likely to become aware of
instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations that are not closely related to events and transactions
reflected in the financial statements. Also, 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 by, for example,
forgery or intentional misrepresentations, or through collusion.
A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the FRC’s website
at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditors’ report.