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NEW HALL ESTATES HOLDINGS LIMITED
INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF NEW HALL ESTATES HOLDINGS LIMITED
Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements
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 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.
The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below.
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.
Based on our understanding of the Company and its industry, we considered that non-compliance with the following laws and regulations might have a material effect on the financial statements: anti-money laundering regulation.
To help us identify instances of non-compliance with these laws and regulations, and in identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect to non-compliance, our procedures 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; and
∙Considering the risk of acts by the Company which were contrary to applicable laws and regulations, including fraud.
We also considered those laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the preparation of the financial statements, such as tax legislation and the Companies Act 2006.
In addition, we evaluated the Directors' and 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 posting manual journal entries to manipulate financial performance, management bias through judgements and assumptions in significant accounting estimates 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.
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