2024-03-31-annual-return - Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta

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COMHAIRLE NA GAELSCOLAÍOCHTA (INCORPORATED UNDER GUARANTEE)

INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF COMHAIRLE NA GAELSCOLAÍOCHTA

OPINION

We have audited the financial statements of Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 March 2024 which comprise of the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet, the Statement of Cash Flows and the related notes. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice) including Financial Reporting Standard 102 ‘The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland’. We have also audited the information in the Remuneration Report that is described in that report as having been audited.

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, including its income and expenditure, and cash flows for the year then ended;
have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

OPINION ON REGULARITY

In our opinion, in all material respects the expenditure and income recorded in the financial statements have been applied to the purposes intended by the Assembly and the financial transactions recorded in the financial statements conform to the authorities which govern them.

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COMHAIRLE NA GAELSCOLAÍOCHTA (INCORPORATED UNDER GUARANTEE)

INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF COMHAIRLE NA GAELSCOLAÍOCHTA (CONTINUED)

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 Auditors' responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the United Kingdom, including the Financial Reporting Council'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 concluded 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 relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the company’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 Directors are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Annual Report, other than the financial statements and our Auditors' Report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, 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 audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement 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 misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in the regard.

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COMHAIRLE NA GAELSCOLAÍOCHTA

(INCORPORATED UNDER GUARANTEE)

INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF COMHAIRLE NA GAELSCOLAÍOCHTA (CONTINUED)

OPINION ON OTHER MATTERS

In our opinion:

the part of the Remuneration Report to be audited has been properly prepared in accordance with the Government Financial Reporting Manual;
information given in the Report of the Directors for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
the Report of the Directors has been prepared in accordance with the applicable legal requirements.

MATTERS ON WHICH WE ARE REQUIRED TO REPORT BY EXCEPTION

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the Companies Act 2006 requires us 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 and the part of the Remuneration Report to be audited are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
We have not received all the information and explanations we require for out audit; or
The Governance Statement does not reflect compliance with the Department of Finance’s guidance.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF DIRECTORS

As explained more fully in the Report of the Directors, 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 determines 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 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 the Directors either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

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COMHAIRLE NA GAELSCOLAÍOCHTA (INCORPORATED UNDER GUARANTEE)

INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF COMHAIRLE NA GAELSCOLAÍOCHTA (CONTINUED)

AUDITORS’ 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 or error, and to issue an Auditors' Report that 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 expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud, is detailed below.

EXTENT TO WHICH THE AUDIT WAS CONSIDERED CAPABLE OF DETECTING IRREGULARITIES, INCLUDING FRAUD

We identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error, and then design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, including obtaining audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

In identifying and assessing potential risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliances with laws and regulations, we considered the following:

The nature of the industry and sector, control environment and business performance, including the company’s remuneration policies for directors, bonus levels and performance targets, if any;
Results of our enquiries of management about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities;
Any matters we identified having obtained and reviewed the company’s documentation of their policies and procedures relating to:
Identifying, evaluating and complying with laws and regulations and whether they were aware of any instance of non-compliance;
Detecting and responding to the risks of fraud and whether they have and knowledge of any actual, suspected or alleged fraud; and
The internal controls established to mitigate risks of fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations;
The matters discussed among the audit engagement team regarding how and where fraud might occur in the financial statements and potential indicators of fraud.

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COMHAIRLE NA GAELSCOLAÍOCHTA (INCORPORATED UNDER GUARANTEE)

INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF COMHAIRLE NA GAELSCOLAÍOCHTA (CONTINUED)

As a result of these procedures, we considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the company for fraud and identified the greatest potential for fraud in income recognition. In common with all audits under ISAs (UK), we are also required to perform specific procedures to respond to the risk of management override.

We also obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks that the company operates in, focusing on provisions of those laws and regulations that had a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The key laws and regulations we considered in this context included the Companies Act 2016, and local tax legislation.

In addition, we considered provisions of other laws and regulations that do not have a direct effect on the financial statements but compliance with which may be fundamental to the company’s ability to operate or to avoid a material penalty.

AUDIT REPONSE TO RISKS IDENTIFIED

Our procedures to respond to the risks identified included the following:

Reviewing the financial statement disclosures and testing to supporting documentation to assess compliance with provisions of relevant laws and regulations described as having a direct effect on the financial statements;
Enquiring of management concerning actual and potential litigation and claims;
Performing analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships that may indicate risks of material misstatement due to fraud;
Reading minutes of meetings of those charged with governance and reviewing correspondence with tax authorities; and
In addressing the risk of fraud through management override of controls, testing the appropriateness of journal entries and other adjustments; assessing whether the judgements made in making accounting estimates are indicative of a potential bias; and evaluating the business rationale of any significant transactions that are unusual or outside the normal course of business.

We also communicated relevant identified laws and regulations and potential fraud risks to all engagement team members and remained alert to any indications of fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations throughout the audit.

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. In addition, as with any audit, there remains a higher risk of non-detection of irregularities, as they 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.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council's website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our Auditors' Report.

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COMHAIRLE NA GAELSCOLAÍOCHTA (INCORPORATED UNDER GUARANTEE)

INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF COMHAIRLE NA GAELSCOLAÍOCHTA (CONTINUED)

USE OF OUR REPORT

This report is made solely to the 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 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 a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Alfred House 19 Alfred Street Belfast BT2 8EQ 24 July 2024

Mr Nigel Moore FCA (Senior Statutory Auditor) For and on behalf GM[c] G BELFAST Chartered Accountants & Statutory Auditor

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