2025-07-31-annual-return - Centre for Cross Border Studies

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Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of Centre for Cross-Border Studies

Report on the audit of the financial statements

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Centre for Cross-Border Studies (‘the Charitable Company’) for the year ended 31 July 2025 set out on pages 13 to 29, which comprise the statement of financial activities (including income and expenditure account), the balance sheet, the statement of cash flows and related notes, including the summary of significant accounting policies set out in note 1.

The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is UK Law and UK accounting standards, including FRS 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland .

In our opinion:

the financial statements give a true and fair view of the state of the Charitable Company’s affairs as at 31 July 2025 and of its incoming resources and application of resources including its income and expenditure for the year then ended;
the financial statements have been properly prepared in accordance with FRS 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland ; and
the financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities (Charities SORP 2019), the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008, the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2015, and the Companies Act 2006.

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) ("ISAs (UK)") and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the Charitable Company in accordance with ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of financial statements in the UK, including the Financial Reporting Council (FRC)’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements.

We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

The Trustees have prepared the financial statements on the going concern basis as they do not intend to liquidate the Charitable Company or to cease its operations, and as they have concluded that the Charitable Company’s financial position means that this is realistic. They have also concluded that there are no material uncertainties that could have cast significant doubt over its ability to continue as a going concern for at least a year from the date of approval of the financial statements (“the going concern period”).

In our evaluation of the Trustees' conclusions, we considered the inherent risks to the Charitable Company’s business model and analysed how those risks might affect the Charitable Company’s financial resources or ability to continue operations over the going concern period.

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of Centre for Cross-Border Studies (continued)

Report on the audit of the financial statements (continued)

Conclusions relating to going concern (continued)

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the Trustees' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the Charitable Company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from the date when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the Trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

However, as we cannot predict all future events or conditions and as subsequent events may result in outcomes that are inconsistent with judgements that were reasonable at the time they were made, the absence of reference to a material uncertainty in this auditor's report is not a guarantee that the Charitable Company will continue in operation.

Detecting irregularities including fraud

We identified the areas of laws and regulations that could reasonably be expected to have a material effect on the financial statements and risks of material misstatement due to fraud, using our understanding of the entity's industry, regulatory environment and other external factors and inquiry with the Trustees. In addition, our risk assessment procedures included: inquiring with the Trustees as to the Charitable Company’s policies and procedures regarding compliance with laws and regulations and prevention and detection of fraud; inquiring whether the Trustees have knowledge of any actual or suspected non-compliance with laws or regulations or alleged fraud; inspecting the Charitable Company’s regulatory and legal correspondence; and reading Board minutes.

We discussed identified laws and regulations, fraud risk factors and the need to remain alert among the audit team.

The Charitable Company is subject to laws and regulations that directly affect the financial statements including companies and financial reporting legislation. We assessed the extent of compliance with these laws and regulations as part of our procedures on the related financial statement items, including assessing the financial statement disclosures and agreeing them to supporting documentation when necessary.

The Charitable Company is not subject to other laws and regulations where the consequences of noncompliance could have a material effect on amounts or disclosures in the financial statements.

Auditing standards limit the required audit procedures to identify non-compliance with these non-direct laws and regulations to inquiry of the Trustees and inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any. These limited procedures did not identify actual or suspected non-compliance. We assessed events or conditions that could indicate an incentive or pressure to commit fraud or provide an opportunity to commit fraud. As required by auditing standards, we performed procedures to address the risk of management override of controls. On this audit, we do not believe there is a fraud risk related to revenue recognition. We did not identify any additional fraud risks.

In response to the risk(s) of fraud, we also performed procedures including: identifying journal entries to test based on risk criteria and comparing the identified entries to supporting documentation; evaluating the business purpose of significant unusual transactions; assessing significant accounting estimates for bias; and assessing the disclosures in the financial statements.

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of Centre for Cross-Border Studies (continued)

Report on the audit of the financial statements (continued)

Detecting irregularities including fraud (continued)

Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that we may not have detected some material misstatements in the financial statements, even though we have properly planned and performed our audit in accordance with auditing standards. For example, the further removed noncompliance with laws and regulations (irregularities) is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely the inherently limited procedures required by auditing standards would identify it.

In addition, as with any audit, there remains a higher risk of non-detection of irregularities, as these may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal controls. We are not responsible for preventing non-compliance and cannot be expected to detect non-compliance with all laws and regulations.

Other information

The Trustees are responsible for the other information presented in the Annual Report together with the financial statements. The other information comprises the information included in the Trustees’ report. The financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon do not comprise part of the other information. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, accordingly, we do not express an audit opinion or, except as explicitly stated below, any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether, based on our financial statements audit work, the information therein is materially misstated or inconsistent with the financial statements or our audit knowledge. Based solely on that work we have not identified material misstatements in the other information.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

Based solely on our work on the other information undertaken during the course of the audit:

we have not identified material misstatements in the Trustees’ report;
in our opinion, the information given in the Trustees’ report is consistent with the financial statements;
in our opinion, the Trustees’ report has been prepared in accordance with the Companies Act 2006.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

Under the Companies Act 2006 we are required to report to you if, in our opinion:

adequate accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
certain disclosures of trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit; or
the trustees were not entitled to take advantage of the small companies exemption from the requirement to prepare a strategic report.

We have nothing to report in these respects.

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of Centre for Cross-Border Studies (continued)

Respective responsibilities and restrictions on use

Responsibilities of trustees for the financial statements

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 8, the trustees are responsible for: the preparation of the financial statements including being satisfied that they give a true and fair view; such internal control as they determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error; assessing the Charitable Company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern; and using the going concern basis of accounting unless they either intend to liquidate the Charitable Company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

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, other irregularities or error, and to issue an opinion in an auditor’s report. 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, other irregularities 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 fuller description of our responsibilities is provided on the FRC’s website at www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities.

The purpose of our audit work and to whom we owe our responsibilities

Our report is made solely to the Charitable Company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the Charitable Company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the Charitable Company and the Charitable Company’s members, as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

17 April 2026

Dominic Mudge (Senior Statutory Auditor) for and on behalf of KPMG, Statutory Auditor Chartered Accountants The Soloist Building 1 Lanyon Place Belfast BT1 3LP