Audit Report 9

Group Audit

Auditor's responsibilities for an audit of financial statements and service performance information arising from ISAs (NZ) and NZ AS 1

As part of an audit in accordance with ISAs (NZ) and NZ AS 1, the auditor exercises professional judgement and maintains professional scepticism throughout the audit.

The auditor also:

• Identifies and assesses the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements and service performance information, whether due to fraud or error, designs and performs audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtains audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for the auditor’s 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.
• Obtains 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 Group’s internal control.
• Evaluates the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates and related disclosures made by management.
• Obtains an understanding of the process applied by the Group to select what and how to report its service performance.
• Evaluates whether the service performance criteria are suitable so as to result in service performance information that is in accordance with the applicable financial reporting framework.
• Concludes on the appropriateness of the use of the going concern basis of accounting by those charged with governance and, based on the audit evidence obtained, whether a material uncertainty exists related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the Group’s ability to continue as a going concern. If the auditor concludes that a material uncertainty exists, the auditor is required to draw attention in the auditor’s report to the related disclosures in the consolidated financial statements or, if such disclosures are inadequate, to modify the auditor’s opinion. The auditor’s conclusions are based on the audit evidence obtained up to the date of the auditor’s report. However, future events or conditions may cause the Group to cease to continue as a going concern.
• Evaluates the overall presentation, structure and content of the consolidated financial statements and service performance information, including the disclosures, and whether the consolidated financial statements and service performance information represent the underlying transactions and events in a manner that achieves fair presentation.
• Obtains sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding the information of the entities or business activities within the Group to express an opinion on the consolidated financial statements and service performance information. The auditor is responsible for the direction, supervision and performance of the group audit. The auditor remains solely responsible for the audit opinion. 

The auditor communicates with those charged with governance regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant deficiencies in internal control that the auditor identifies during the audit.

The auditor also provides those charged with governance with a statement that the auditor has complied with relevant ethical requirements regarding independence, and to communicate with them all relationships and other matters that may reasonably be thought to bear on the auditor’s  independence, and where applicable, actions taken to eliminate threats or safeguards applied.

From the matters communicated with those charged with governance, the auditor determines those matters that were of most significance in the audit of the consolidated financial statements and service performance information of the current period and are therefore the key audit matters. The auditor describes these matters in the auditor’s report unless law or regulation precludes public disclosure about the matter or when, in extremely rare circumstances, the auditor determines that a matter should not be communicated in the auditor’s report because the adverse consequences of doing so would reasonably be expected to outweigh the public interest benefits of such communication.