As part of an audit in accordance with the ISAs, we exercise professional judgement and maintain professional scepticism throughout my audit of the financial statements and the procedures performed on reported performance information for selected programmes and on the public entity’s compliance with selected requirements in key legislation.

• identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error; design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks; and obtain audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for my opinion. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control
• obtain an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the public entity’s internal control
• evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates and related disclosures made
• conclude on the appropriateness of the use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements. We also conclude, based on the audit evidence obtained, whether a material uncertainty exists relating to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the ability of the public entity [and its subsidiaries] to continue as a going concern. If we conclude that a material uncertainty exists, we are required to draw attention in my auditor’s report to the related disclosures in the financial statements about the material uncertainty or, if such disclosures are inadequate, to modify my opinion on the financial statements. My conclusions are based on the information available to us at the date of this auditor’s report. However, future events or conditions may cause a public entity to cease operating as a going concern
• evaluate the overall presentation, structure and content of the financial statements, including the disclosures, and determine whether the financial statements represent the underlying transactions and events in a manner that achieves fair presentation.