ARTS & BUSINESS NORTHERN IRELAND INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF ARTS & BUSINESS NORTHERN IRELAND Oplnion We have audited the financial statements of Arts & Business Northem Ireland (the 'charity') for the year ended 31 March 2024 which comprise the statement of financial a(*vities, the balance sheet. the statement of cash flows and notes to the finanual statements, induding significant accounkn.ng policies. The finanaal reporb'ng framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards. induding Finanaal Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of I￿land (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Ar￿Unting Prathce). In our opinion, the finanaal statements: give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable ¢wipany's affairs as at 31 March 2024 and of its incoming resources arKI application of reSoUr￿s, for the year then ended., have been properly prepared in accordance with United lQngth)m Generally Accepted Accounting Practi￿., and have been prepared in a¢x¢Jrdance with the requiremerts of the CompaniesAct 2006. Basls for oplnlon We conducted our a￿lIt in accordance wth Intemational Standards on AudFling (UK) (ISAS (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditorfs responsibilrfies for tho audit ol the fjnancial statements section of our report We are independent of the charrty in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK. induding the FRC'S Ethical Standard. and we have fulfilled our other ethical reSp￿sIbIlitieS In accordan￿ vnth these requirements. We believe that the audit eviden￿ we have obtained is gjfficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. Concluslons relating to going concern In audtling the finanual statements, we have concluded that the trustees. u* of the going COn￿M basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate. Based on the work we have perfomied, we have nol identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast signrfi¢ant doubt on the charty's ability to continue as a going concem for a period of at least ￿￿e1ve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue. Our responsibilth'es and the resFM)nsibilits"es of the trustees with respect to going concem are described In the relevant sedions of this report. Other informatlon The trustees are reSpon￿bIe for the Ott￿r infO￿nab"0n. The other infomiation comprises the infomiation included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor's report thereori. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other infonnation and Y￿ do not express any fomi of assurance condusion thereon. In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibilty IS to read the other infomation and, in doing so, consider whether the other infomiakn'on is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtsined in the audit or otherwse appears to be materially misststed. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to detemiine whether there is a material misststement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed. we conclude that there is a material misststement of this other information. we we required to report that fact. We have nothing to report in this regwd. 11 ARTS & BUSINESS NORTHERN IRELAND INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT (CONTINUED) TO THE TRUSTEES OF ARTS & BUSINESS NORTHERN IRELAND Matters on whlch we are requlred to report by exceptlon We have nothing to rewrt in respect of the following matters in relation to the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 require us to report to you rf. in our opinion.. the information given in the financial statements is ir￿On￿Stent in any material respect wTrth the trustees, report", or sufficient accounting records have not been kept,. the financial statements are not in agreement with the accountirvJ records; or we have rKJt re￿IVed all the infomiation and explanations we require for our audit. Responslbllities of trustees As explained more fully in the statement of trustees. responsibilities. the trustees, who are also the dire¢Xors of the tharity for the purpose of company law, are res￿n￿ble for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees detemine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, thther due to fraud or error. In preparing the financial statements. the trustees are responsible for assessing the charity's ability to continue as a going concem, disclosing. as applicable. rnatters related to going concem and using the going conc8m basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitablè company or to cease operations. or have no realistic altemative but to do so. Audltor's responsibilitles for the audlt of tho financial ststements We have been appointed as auditors under section 65 of the Charities Act (Northern Irdand) 2008 and ￿port in accordance with the Act and relevant regulations made or hawng effect thereurKler. Our objectives are to obtsin reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material rnisstatement. whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditovs report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assuran￿ but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAS (UK) will always detect a material misststement bvhen 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 l￿egUlarl11es. including fraud, is detailed below. Our approach to identifying arKI assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularits'es, induding fraud and non-compliance wth laws and regulations. was as follows.. the engagement partner ensured that the engagement team collectN81y had the apwopriate competence, capabilities and skills to identify or recognise rK)TrcomplIan￿ ￿th applicable la￿￿ and ￿gulatiOns. we identified the laws and regulations applicable to the tharity through discussions with trustees andlor senior management, and from our commercial knowledge and experience of the sector,. we focused on specific laws and regulatr'ons wthich Y￿ considered may have a direct material effect on the financial ststements or the operations of the charity. including Companies Act 2006. taxabon legislation, dats protection, anti-bribery, employment. environmental and health and safety legislation.. we assessed the extent of Complian￿ V￿th the labvs and regulations identified above through making enquiries of management and inspecting legal corresponden￿. and identified laws and regulats'ons were Communicated within the audit team r8gularfy and the team remained alert to instances of non-compliance throughoLrt the audrt. We assessed the suscepts'bility of the charity's finanoal ststements to material misststement, including obtaining an understanding of how fraud might occur. by.. . making enquiries of management as to where they considered there was susceptibility to fraud. their knowledge of actual, suspected and alleged fraud.. and • considering the intemal controls in place to mitigate risks of fraud and r￿n-cOmplianc8 with laws and ￿gUlations. 12- ARTS & BUSINESS NORTHERN IRELAND INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT (CONTINUED) TO THE TRUSTEES OF ARTS & BUSINESS NORTHERN IRELAND To address the risk of fra￿ through management bias and override of controls, we: ' performed analytical procedures to identfy any unusual ￿ unexpected relationships,. . tested joumal entries to identify unusual transactions; assessed whether judgements and assumptions made in detemiining the accountirKJ estimates set out in Note 2 We￿ indicative of potential bias- and • investigated the rationa￿ behind signifficant or unusual transactions. In response to the risk of irregularrties and non-compliance with laws and regulations, VR designed prO￿dUreS which included, but were not limited to.. . agreeing financial statement disclosures to undetying supporting documenti￿10n,. • reading the minutes of meetings of those charged with govemance" • enquiring of management as to actual and potential litigation and daims. There are inherent limitations in our audit procedures described above. The more removed that laws and regulations are from financial transactions. the less likely it is that would become aware of non-compliance. Auditing standards also limit the audit procedures required to identrfy n0￿COmplian￿ with law￿ and regulations to enquiry of the directors and other managernent and the inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, rf any. Material misstatements that arise due to fraud can be harder to detect than those that arise from etror as they may involve deliberate concealment or collusion. A further description of our responsibiltties is available on the Financial Reporting Council's websit& at.. https:11 I￿.frc.Org.ukIaud1torsreSponSibllityes. This description forms part of our auditorfs report. This report is made solely to the charitls trustees. as a body. in accordance with part 4 of the Charrties (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might stste to the charivs trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditors. report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume r&spr)nsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity's trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report. or for the oiinions we have formed. Angela Craigan FCA (Senlor S tutory Audltor) for and on behalf of Harblnson Mulholland Chartered Accountsnts statutory Audltor Centrepoint 24 Omieau Avenue Belfast Co. Antrm Northern Ireland BT2 8HS Harbinson Mulholland is eligible for appointrnent as audttor of the charity by virtue of its eligibility for appointment as auditor of a company under secb'on 1212 of Companies Act 2006. 13-