NORTHERN IRELAND RAPE CRISIS ASSOCIATION TRADING AS: NEXUS INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT TO THE DIRECTORS OF NORTHERN IRELAND RAPE CRISIS ASSOCIATION Oplnlon We have audited the financial statements of Northern Ireland Rape Crisis Association (the 'charity') for the year ended 31 March 2023 which comprise the statement of ffinancial activities, the statement of financial position, the statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). In our opinion, the financial statements.. give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company's affairs as at 31 March 2023 and of its incoming resources and application of resour￿8, for the year then ended., have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting PractiLE; and have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006. Basls for oplnlon We conducted our audlt in accordance wlth International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAS (UK)) and appllcable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditors responsibilities for the audrt ol the financi81 stataments Section of our report. We are independent of the charity in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the 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. Concluslons relatlng to golng concern In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the directors, use of the going concern basis of accounling in the preparation of th8 financial statements is appropriate. Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any materlal uncertainties relatlng to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charity's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least hvelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue. Our responsibilities and the respon8ibiliti85 of the directors with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of thls report. Other Informatlon The other information comprises the information included in the annual report other than the finarLlal statements and our auditor's report thereon. The directors are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other infonnation and we do not express any fomi of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a materral misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact. Ve have nothing to report in this regard. Matters on whlch we are requlred to report by exceptlon We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 require us to report to you if, in our opinion.. the infomiation given in the financial statements is inconsistent in any material respect with the directors. report", or sufficient accounting records have not been kept- or the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records., or we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit. NORTHERN IRELAND RAPE CRISISASSOCIATION TRADING AS: NEXUS INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT (CONTINUED) TO THE DIRECTORS OF NORTHERN IRELAND RAPE CRISIS ASSOCIATION Responslbllltles of directors As explained more fully in the statement of directors, responsibilitie5. the directors are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such intemal control as the directors determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. In preparing the financial statements, the directors are responsible for assessing the charity's ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concem and using the going concem basis of accounting unless the directors either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so. Audltorfs responslbllltles for tho audlt of tho flnanclal statements We have been appointed as auditors under section 65 of the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 and report in accordance with the Act and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder. 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 th8t 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 expeded to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basls of these finandal statements. The extent to which our procedura$ are capable of detecting Irregularities, includlng fraud, is delai18d below. Our approach to identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, Including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, was as follows: the engagement partner ensured that the engagement team collectively had the appropriate competen￿, capabilities and skills to identify or recognise non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations,. we identified the laws and regulations applicable to the company through discussions with trustees andlor senior management, and from our commercial knowledge and experience ofthe sector., we focused on specific laws and regulations which we considered may have a direct material effect on the financial statements or the operations of the charity, including Companies Act 2006, taxation legislation, data protection, anti-bribery, employment, environmental and health and safety legislation; • we assessed the extent of Complian￿ with the laws and regulations Identified above through making enquiries of management and inspecting legal correspondence,. and identified laws and regulations were communicated within the audit team regularly and the team remalned alert to instances of non-compliance throughout the audit. We assessed the susceptibility of the charity's financial statements to material misstatement, 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 internal controls in place to mitigate risks of fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations. To address the risk of fraud through management bias and override of controls, we.. perfomied analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships: tested journal entries to identify unusual transactions,. assessed whether judgements and assumptions made in determining the accounting estimates set out in Note 2 were indicative of potential bias: and investigated the rationale behind significant or unusual transactions. NORTHERN IRELAND RAPE CRISIS ASSOCIATION TRADING AS: NEXUS INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT (CONTINUED) TO THE DIRECTORS OF NORTHERN IRELAND RAPE CRISIS ASSOCIATION In response to the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations, we designed procedures which included, but were not limited to: agreeing financial ststement disclosures to underlying supporting documentation., reading the minutes of meetings of those charged with govemance,. and enquiring of management as to actual and potential litigation and claims. There are inherent limitations in our audrt procedures described above. The more removed that laws and regulations are from financial transactions, the less likely it is that we would become aware of n0Trcomplian￿. Auditing standards also limit the audit procedures required to identify non-compliance with laws and regulations to enquiry of the directors and other management and the inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any. Material misstatements that arise due to fraud can be harder to detect than those that arise from error as they may involve deliberate concealment or collusion. A further descripts'on of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council's V￿bsite at.. https.'Il www.frc.org.uklauditorsresponsibilities. This description fomis part of our auditorfs report. Thls report is made solely to th8 company's members, as a body. In accordance with sect5on 391 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the 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 company and the company's members as body, for our audit work. for this report, or for the opinions we have formed. Angela C an FCA (Senlor Stat ry Audltor for and on behalf of Harblnson Mulholland Chartered Accountants statutory Audltor Centrepoint 24 Ormeau Avenue Belfast Co. Antrim Northern Ireland BT2 8HS Harbinson Mulholland is eligible for appointment as auditor of the charity by virtue of its eligibility for appointrnent as auditor of a company under section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.