NORTHERN IRELAND RAPE CRISIS ASSOCIATION TRADING AS: NEXUS INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT TO THE DIRECTORS OF NORTHERN IRELAND RAPE CRISIS ASSOCIATION Opinion We have audited the financial ststements of Northern Ireland Rape Crisis Association (the 'charity') for the year ended 31 March 2024 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the statemenl of financial position, the statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including signbficant accounting policies. The flnanclal 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 Standafty appI￿able in the UK and Republic of I￿land (United Kingdom Generally AC￿pted 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 2024 and of its incoming resources and application of resources. for the year then ended.. have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practi￿, and have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006. Basi5 for opinlon We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Audtting (UK) {ISqs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditorfs responsibilities for the audit ol the financial statements 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. Conclusions relating to going concern In auditing the financial statements, we have conduded that the directors. 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 ￿lating 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 twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue. Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the directors with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report. Other information The other information comprises the information included in the annual report other than the financial statements and our auditor's report thereon. The directors are responsible for the other infomation contained within the annual report Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our resF)onsibilty is to read the other information and, in doing so. consider whether the other information is Tnaterially inconsistent wth the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audtt, 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 material misstatement in the financial statements Ihemselves. 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. We have nothing to report in this regard. Matters on which we are required to report by exception 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 information 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 rèceived all the informab.on and explanations we require for our audit. NORTHERN IRELAND RAPE CRISIS ASSOCIATION TRADING AS: NEXUS INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT ICONTINUED) TO THE DIRECTORS OF NORTHERN IRELAND RAPE CRISIS ASSOCIATION Responsibilities of directors As explained more fully in the statement of directors. responsibilities, 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 internal control as the directors determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financlal statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. In preparing the finanual statements, the directors are responsible for assessing the charity's abilty to continue as a going concern, disclosng, 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 Auditorfs responsibilities for the audit of the financial 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 obtsin reasonable assurance about whether the financial ststements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. and to issue an auditorfs report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audtt 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 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 irregularities: including fraud, is detailed below. Our approach to identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance wth 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 of the 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, etnployment, environmental and health and safety legislation,. we assessed the extent of compliance 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 remained alert to instances of non-compliance throughout the audit. We assessed the susceptibilrty of the charity's financial statements to material misstatement, including obtaining an understanding of how fraud might OCGur, by". making enquiries of management as to where they consdered there was susceptlbility to fraud, their knowledge of actual. suspected and alleged fraud; and considering the intemal controls in place to mitigate risks of fraud and non-complian￿ with laws and regulations. To address the risk of fraud through management bias and override of controls. we: performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships-, tested journal entries lo identify unusual transactions- assessed whetheF 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. Draft Financial Statements at 25 November 2024 at 12.25-19 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 irregularilies and non-complian￿ wth laws and regulations. we designed procedures which included, bul were not limited to.. agreeing financial statement disclosures to underlying supporting documentation., reading the minutes of meelings of Ihose charged with govemance- and enquiring of management as to actual and potential litigation and claims. There are inherent limitations in our audit procedures described above. The more removed thal laws and regulations are from financial transactions. the less likely it is that we would become aware of non-compliance. Auditing standards also limit the audit procedures required to identify non-compliance with laws and regulations lo 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 Ihat arise from error as they may involve deliberate concealment or collusion. A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council's website at. https'.11 www.frc.org.uklauditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditorfs report. This report is rnade solely to the company's members, as a body. in accordan￿ with section 391 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been ur)dert8ken so that we might stale to Ihe companys members those matter5 we are required to stale to them in an auditorfs 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 a body. for our audit work, for this report. or for the opinions we have formed. Angela algan FCA (Senlor S uIoryAuditor) for and on behalf of Harbinson Mulholland Chartered Accountants Statutory Auditor Centrepoint 24 Ormeau Avenue Belfast Co. Antrim Northern Ireland BT2 8HS 1011212024 Harbinson Mulholland is eligible for appointment as auditor of the charity by virtue of its eligibility for appointment as auditor of a company under section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.