41061 Unite AR22 HI-RES WEB-READY - Flipbook - Page 178
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THE UNITE GROUP PLC | Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022
INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT continued
To the members of Unite Group PLC
10. 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.
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 auditor’s report.
11. Extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud
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.
11.1. Identifying and assessing potential risks related to irregularities
In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance
with laws and regulations, we considered the following:
•
the nature of the industry and sector, control environment and business performance including the design of the
Group’s remuneration policies, key drivers for Directors’ remuneration, bonus levels and performance targets;
•
results of our enquiries of management, internal audit, the Group’s internal legal counsel, the Directors and the
Audit & Risk Committee about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities;
•
any matters we identified having obtained and reviewed the Group’s documentation of their policies and procedures
relating to:
•
•
identifying, evaluating and complying with laws and regulations and whether they were aware of any instances
of non-compliance;
•
detecting and responding to the risks of fraud and whether they have knowledge of any actual, suspected or
alleged fraud;
•
the internal controls established to mitigate risks of fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations; and
the matters discussed among the audit engagement team and relevant internal specialists, including tax, valuations,
pensions, IT, forensic and industry specialists regarding how and where fraud might occur in the financial statements
and any potential indicators of fraud.
As a result of these procedures, we considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the organisation
for fraud and identified the greatest potential for fraud in the following areas: investment property and development
property valuation owing to the potential manipulation and override by management of the controls relating to the
valuation process. In common with all audits under ISAs (UK), we are also required to perform specific procedures to
respond to the risk of management override.
We also obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory framework that the Group operates in, focusing on
provisions of those laws and regulations that had a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures
in the financial statements. The key laws and regulations we considered in this context included the UK Companies Act,
Listing Rules, and tax legislation.
In addition, we considered provisions of other laws and regulations that do not have a direct effect on the financial
statements but compliance with which may be fundamental to the Group’s ability to operate or to avoid a material
penalty. These included the Group’s compliance with health and safety matters, including fire safety and fire cladding.
