2024-03-31-annual-return

ARMAGH OBSERVATORY AND PLANETARIUPA THE CERTIFICATE AND REPORT OF THE COl•WROLLER AND AUtXTOR GENERAL TO THE NORTHERN IRELAND ASSEMBLY Ow"nion on fw)ancial slaternents I certfy that I have a￿lled the final￿￿1 statements of the Arrnagh Observatory and Planetariun for the ￿ar en[￿d 31 March 2024 under IM¥ observat￿ and Plane￿riUM (Northem Ireland} Ofder 1995. The finanual staiemerts comwse: state￿nI ol Financial Activities. the Balance Shee( Ihe Cash Flow SLgtemenL' and the related mtes Induding signrfurrt accounts'ng policies. The financ￿1 reFxyting framework that has been applied in th￿r weparation is a￿l￿ab￿A law and Unrted King(k)m acccKmtsng staThlards including Finanaal Reportsry Starmlard {FRS) 102. the Fina￿al Reportiry Starmlard applicable in the UK aThl Republr of Irelarmj {Unrted ￿'n￿)rn Generally Accepted AccounDng Practicel. I have also audited the inf0mal￿n in the Trustoes. Anrwl Report Ihat is dosses inlended by the As5embty and Ihe financ￿1 tran&ryctsc￿5 recorded in the financial 5taternents Conf￿ to the aLrttK)rths vthich ￿¥eM them. Basis f(Y opiTh( I C￿￿lucted my audr( in accordance Vlith International StarKlard5 on AudiiirwJ (ISA5) (UK). applicable law and PradKe Note 10'Audit of Financial SLgtements and Regularity of Public Sector Bodies in the United lfjngdom.. W respongbi1￿'eS under those 51andard5 are lurtr￿ (kncribed in the Awjrtorfs responsibilibes for audit of the finanaal stalements section of my certfficate. My Staff arKI l are ifKJependefrt (rf Armagh Ob5ervat(ry arml Planetanum in accordance 7Mth the ethKal reqUIre￿￿nts thal are relevarrt to my a￿lIt of the financial slatemert5 in the UK, irKluding the Financial Reportmg Coun(?I"s Elhul SlarKJard. and have fullilled OLf (ther ethical re5ponsits"lrtie5 in accordance with these re(pJirements. I believe that the a￿11( eviderKe obtained is Suff￿￿nI and apwoFThie Io a basis for my opinirms. Cor￿lusIOnS relating to ping cor In audiling trtre finanaal staiements. I have conduded that Armagh Obser4atory and Ptanetarium. Use of the g(Mng concem ba&s ol acc(xKtsrMJ in Ihe Wrarats￿ ( the f￿ar￿￿1 state￿￿nts 15 apwowate. Based on ihe Wa￿ I have ￿f{￿ed. I have rKrt identjfied matenal u[￿ellaintseS relating to events or c(KKlrtI(￿S thaL indmdualty C￿ collectivety. may cag ￿nrf￿arrt doubt on Ihe Armagh ObSe￿a10ry and Planclanum's abilrty to c(wth'nue as a concem a Peri￿ of ai least twelve mo(*￿ frrxn vAben ts finarKial stalefflerts are aUth￿sed is￿.

The going concem basis of accoLmtirvJ f(w Arn￿h Obseriat(ry arKI Planetarium is adopied in con5Kleratson ol the requirement5 Set (XA in the Govemmeni Financial ReportJrKJ Manual. vthKh requre entrt￿5 to adopi the going c(￿effi basis of aCc￿r￿"n9 in the WeparatI(￿ of the fin￿￿la1 ststements where rt erticipated thal services whKh try provide will cOrtir￿ lito the I￿re. My resw151bililJe5 and the re5w)nsi￿.1rt￿5 ol the Tn￿ee5 and the AcC￿nt￿g Officer Ymlh respect to going c(KKem are descnbed in the relevart seclK)ns d Ihis certthcate. other Inf0M￿tIOn The other information comprises the infofmation included in Ihe Trustees, annual report other than the fina￿￿1 statements. the pans of Twstees. Report described in that report as having been a￿llIed. and my audii cerirficate arKI rep(rt. The Trustees and the AccountitNJ Officer are respOn￿bIe the (thr informatK)n Incl￿ In ts arnual rep(Nt. Opini￿ on Ihe finarKwl statement5 1kn5 cover the other inf(rnticm and except to the extent (Aherwise explicrtly stated in my certrficaie. I do not exwess any fonn of assLrance conClus￿n thereon. 14ty resp)nsi￿1rtY is lo read the other 1n1￿natK)n and. in dTh"ry so. C￿SIder whthr the olP%r inlormaix)n is materially inconsisient with the financkryl statements (x my knowledge olxained in the aLKlil otherwise appear5 to be matenally misstated. If l idenlrfy such material inconsistencies (x apparent material misstaiements. l am required to deiefmine whether thts gtves nse to a material misstatement In the finanual statements themselves. 11, based on the work I have ￿￿rned. I c￿￿lude Ihat there ts a material misstatement ol tr¥'s other inlomalKn. l am requwed to rewrt that facL I have rK)thing to rep(wt in this regard. In my Op￿￿)￿ based (m the work ￿dertaken in the c(XW5e d the audiL' the parts of the Trustees. Report have been pn)pety prepared in accordancz ith DepartsTrent Ccnmunrts drects'ons made urKler the Observatory arKI Planetarium (Northem IrelarKI) C(kn 1995: and the infomwb-on given in the Trustees. Annual Report for the finan(ial year for ¥thich the rmaJKial 5tatemenis are Fxepared wrth the financial staiemerrts. Matt•rs on which I rep(￿1 by oxce In Ihe liW of ts kr￿￿dge arKI uThJerslandiry Arrrwgh ObserVat￿Y and FlanetariLffn and its enwronnrn otknitd in Ihe COU￿ of the audiL I have not ithnljfied material misslatemert5 in the Trustees, Annual Report. I have rthirwJ io reP￿t in respect ￿ the fo11Tr￿ matters I reFXYt to rf, in rny O￿n￿n. a(quate acC￿nti￿j rec(xds have rKA been W c the financial sLgtements and the parts of the Trustees, Report to be audited arn not in cthain disck>sLres of rwnUrVati￿ specrfie(I by the Govemmert Fmancial Rep( Marm￿1 are ncA made: I have not receNed al of the 1￿ma￿l and explanations I for my a￿lIl, ( the GoVernar￿e Statemert (kJe5 n(A relkni C￿l￿)Ilar￿e vllth the Depart￿￿￿1 of FinarKe's guidance.

Responsibilities of ts Board of G0vW￿ arKI Accowitiry Offic•r f(Y fmancial statements As explair￿d mNe fulty in Staterynl cl Ihe Govemcxs and AcccAwlirwJ cyficer Responsibilitses. the GoveYrK¥S arwj ￿ Accourming cxficer are respK)ngble fLY' the Fryaratxx) d the fmartial slatement5 for bery sa(￿'ed that they give a true arrfj fair ￿eW.. enswing such intemal cOntr(￿S are in [￿ace as (k￿ned rEcessary to enable tho preparatK>n ol finarK￿l statement5 lo be tree frThn material misstaternert whether due to fraud erK: ensuring the Tfust•es' Amual Repoo thich indudes the RerWneraI￿n and Staff Report. Is prepared in accordance with the Governmenl Final￿￿7 ReP￿ing mar￿￿1., assessing the Amiagh Obseprfatory aTrJ FlanetariLKn's abilty lo conb'nL as a going concern. disclo%nq. as applicable. rnatters related to (pinq concem arKI usiw the qoinq concern basis ￿ accounts'w l￿leSS the Trustees arKI Accounti[￿ OItKer anlicipaie5 thal the service5 F￿0vKIed by knwjh Ob5ervaW and PlanetarRTh b%ryll rnt continue 10 be provided ￿ the futLWe. Audltorfs r•sponslbiliti•s lor th• audit of th• financlal stat•m•rts My reS￿nsi￿.1rtY is ￿ exanwne, cerknty arml rewi ￿ the financial statemerns in acCOrdar￿ the Armagh Cknervaw and Plarttarun (N¢ythem IrelaThd) Chder 1995. My we to olxain reasonalAe asswance alNxrt whether the fiThgncial 51atemenls as a ¥hKJ￿ are free from rnaterial m￿5[alernerx. b%thether (kn lo fraud or eThor and io issue a certrficate that ir￿lUdeS my OpinK￿. Reas￿able assurance is a level of assurarKe txrt is rM)t a guarantee that an aLwJit C(XKJuciecl in acc(Kdance Y•lh ISAS (UK) will always detect a malenal mr5Statemenl it exists. Vi'5slatements Ggn atise from fraud and are C(￿th[ed matenal rf. Indpndualty in the aggregate. they could rea￿)nablY be expecied to infi￿nCe the ecommK decisK>ns of users laken bas￿ ￿ these fInar￿￿1 staternents. I desiw woce(lures in li￿ with my reSp￿s1b11rt1"es. fxrtlined aLK>ve. to dL%ecl matenal misstatements in resF￿￿ ol Tm)n.cornpl￿nce wrth law5 arKI regulatK)n. inclLKlirwJ fraud. My wocedures r￿lu(kid. obtainiry an urKIWarKJry of the legal arKJ rewlatory frarne¥￿rk aw4icable to the Armagh Observat(Ky arKI Planetarium ItrYwJh discussion with managemenl and applKation of extensive public seclor acc￿nLibl1ity knovAedge. The key law5 aThl [c￿u[ab0nS I Congder￿1 wKlude<l the Arrnagh ob￿￿¥a￿ PkneLqrKwn (Northern Ireland) 1995. makiry efNuires of management aTrJ Ilx)se charged gOVenNryn￿ cm Obsetvatory arMJ Fyanetarium's ConW￿nce Yath Iw•VS and regulat￿n$. makiry en￿1￿5 of iniemal a￿lIL management and ItK)5e char@ wth goVernar￿e as to SU5ceptsbilrty to Wregularity and fraud. ther a55essmeN d the risk ol tnalenal m￿stateMent (kne to fraud and irregulwty. arKI their knowle(h3e CA aciual. wed anil alleged fraud and Irregularty.. completing risk asse55ment wocedLwes to assess the 5U5ceptitM'Ity of Armagh Observatory and Pl￿etariUM'S fir￿nCIal statements to material misstatement, including fraLKI might OCCLf. This incI￿led. bui was ncrt limrted to. an e￿Ja￿Men1 directrK led engagerT￿l ￿arn discuss￿ ￿ fraud to Kkntrfy partKular areas. transacti(m streams and busine55 wacDce5 thal may be su5ce01i￿e to malerbal mis5tawnent due to fraud. As part of this d15cussion. l Klentffied Po￿tial f(K traud the folloM'rwJ areas: revenue recogiilKKI and postiry of ￿￿sUal ￿MalS.

engagernent directar oversigm lo efwe the engage1￿￿t team co1￿CtiVety had the apwwte coM￿tenCe. C4)a￿1rtIes and sknlls to identty reC￿nISe mn-compliance with the applicable legal a￿1 regulat(xy framew(xk thrwJK)Ut the audit., documffiting aThJ evaluats'ThJ the desi￿ and Implemerta￿l CA internal controls in place to n¥￿ale n5k c4 material mts5ts1ema* ¢kn to fraLKJ a￿1 rnn.c0ny1￿nce with laws aThJ reWlatic￿. desiwirvj aLKlrt Prac￿l￿e5 io athress specfft laws and regulatK￿5 ￿lch the en￿gerne￿ team c￿sKIered to have a direct material effect on the fina￿la1 siatefflents in le￿5 of misstatement and irregulanty. including fraud. These a￿lIt pr(Kedures YKluded, bul were noi limited to. readirmj tx)ard ￿￿1 cornrnitiee minirtes, and agreeiThJ finalK￿l slatemem disclosures to ￿KlerI￿ng supportsng docurnentation and apwova15 as apwoFThtr.' and ad¢knssirMJ the nsk of fraud as a result of management ovurKle d controls by: perf(Thiing ana1￿￿al I￿(￿edureS to identrfy unusual unexpected relalK)nships o tesw ￿￿rnal e￿S to Klertify wentsal an￿lIeS. 1napw0w￿te o assessry WTr￿her Jxlgements (Xher assumptsms made n deiermiThng accountsng estimates were ndThtive of pcrtentsal Ix'as: arml o investyats'ng sKJnrficant ￿ unusual transact￿5 made outsMJe of the ￿￿Mal course of txN'ness. A further description (A my responSitM"lrt￿S f(￿ the a￿11 of the financ￿1 State￿￿ntS Is located on the Finanoal Reporb"ng Counol's website www.frc.or .Ukla￿iloTSreS onsibilities. Th descri￿1(￿} fcffiis pan of my certi'ficate. In addrtion. l requred to oblain evicknce suffi"CiLYrt to glve reasonable aSS￿anCe that the expcndiiure and inccvne recorded in Ihe finarKial statements have been applied to the purFX)5es interKled by A55embty rinancial transacts'ons rec(Kded in ￿ financial State￿￿rts conform ￿ the aulh(Yts wvem them. I have rK> observatK)ns to make on these fnancial slatements. Dorinnia CaThYlle Comptroller and A￿lItar Genefal N￿hern Ireland A￿rt OffKe 706 UThvef5ty Street BELFAST 8T7 IEU 29 OLlotsr 2024