THE CONTROLLED SCHOOLS, SUPPORT COUNCIL INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF THE CONTROLLED SCHOOLS, SUPPORT COUNCIL Opinion We have audited the financial statements of The Controlled Schools, Support Council (the 'Charity') for the year ended 31 March 2024 which comprise the statement of financial 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 Accounts'ng 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 Practice; and hav8 been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006. Basls for oplnlon We conducted our audit in accordance with International Stsndards on Auditing (UK) IISAS (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditorfs spOnsibl11t1@S for Ihe audit ol the financial stalements 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 spOnsIbl[1ti8s in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provid8 a basis for our opinion. Concluslons relatlng to golng concern We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the ISAS (UK) require us to report to you were: the directors, use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is not appropriate-, or the directors have not disclosed in the financial statements any identified material uncertalnties that may cast significant doubt about the group's or the parent company's ability to continue to adopt the going concem basis of accounting for a period of at least twelve months from the date when the financial statements are authorised for issue. Other Informatlon The other informatlon comprises the information Included in the Directors, Report, other than the financial statements and our auditor's report thereon. The directors are responsible for the other information. 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 infomation and, in doing so, consider whether the other informats'on 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 matenal inconsistencies or apparent material misststements. we are required to detemine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other infomiation. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that th8re is a material misstatement of this other infonnation, we are required to report that fact. We have nothing to report in this regard. 13-
THE CONTROLLED SCHOOLS, SUPPORT COUNCIL INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT (CONTINUED) TO THE TRUSTEES OF THE CONTROLLED SCHOOLS, SUPPORT COUNCIL Matters on whlch we are required to report by exceptlon In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the Charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not id8ntified material misstatements in the Strategic Report and th8 Directors, Report. 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.. 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 the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns., or we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit. Responslbllltles of Trusteas As explained more fully in the statement of trustees, responsibilities, the Trustees, who are also the directors of the Charity for the purpose of company law, ar8 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 Trustees determine 15 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 Trustees are responsible for assessing the Charity's ability to continue as a going concem, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the Trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so. Audltor's responsibllltles for the audit of the flnanclal Statements Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial slatements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditols 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. A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council's website at.. https.'Il YNM.frc.org.ukl8uditorsresponsibilities. This description fom)s part of our auditor's report. 14-
THE CONTROLLED SCHOOLS, SUPPORT COUNCIL INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT {CONTINUED) TO THE TRUSTEES OF THE CONTROLLED SCHOOLS, SUPPORT COUNCIL 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, apabilities 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 directors 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 company, including Companies Act 2006, taxation legislation, data protection, anti-bribery, employment, 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 law5 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 susceptibility of the company's financial statements to material misstatement, including obtaining an understanding of how fraud might occur, by.. making enquiries of rnanagement 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 r15k of fraud through management bias and override of controls, we.. performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships., tested journal entries to identify unusual Iransactions, assessed whether judgements and assumptions made in determining the accountin9 estirnates sel out in Note 2 were indicative of polential bias., and investigated the rationale behind significant or unusual transactions. 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 statement disclosures to underlying supporting documentaticn., • reading the minutes of meetings of those charged with governance., enquiring of management as to actual and potential liligation and claim5', and reviewing correspondence with HMRC and the company's legal advisors. There are inherent limitations in our audil 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 non-compliance. Auditing standards also limit the audit procedures required lo identify non-compliance with laws and regulations to enquiry of the directors and other management and the Inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, rf any. 15-
THE CONTROLLED SCHOOLS, SUPPORT COUNCIL INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT (CONTINUED) TO THE TRUSTEES OF THE CONTROLLED SCHOOLS, SUPPORT COUNCIL This report is made solely to the company's members, as a body, in accordance with section 391 of the Companies Act 2014. 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 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 fomied. Angela Craigan {Senlor Statutory Au Itor) for and on behalf of Harblnson Mulholland Chartered Accountants ststutory Audltor Centrepoint 24 Ormeau Avenue Belfast Co. Antrim Northem Ireland BT2 8HS 16-