Report of the Independent Auditors to the Trustees of
Portstewart Baptist Church
Opinion
We have audited the financial statements of Portstewart Baptist ChuTch (the 'charity') for the year ended
31 December 2023 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, th¢ Balance Sheet, the Cash Flow
Statement and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. 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).
In our opinion the financial statements=
give a true and fair view of the state of the charity's affairs as at 31 December 2023 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
have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008.
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 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 w¢ have obtained is sufficient and appropriat¢ to provide a
basis for our opinion.
Conelusions relating to going concern
In auditing the financiaL statements, w¢ have concluded that the trnstees, use of th¢ going concern basis of
accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have perfonned, we have not identifIed any material uncertainties relating to events or
condltions 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 responsibilit1¢5 of the trustees with respect to going concern ai¢ described in the
relevant sections of this report.
Other information
The tntstees aTe responsible for the other infonnation. The other inforniation comprises the infonnation
included ill the Annual Report, other than the financial statements and our Report of the Independent Auditors
th¢reon.
Our opinion on the fInancial statements does not cover the other inforniation and, except to the extent otherwise
explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any fomi of assurance conclusion thereon.
In connection with our audit of the financial statements. our responsibility is to read the other infom)ation and,
in doing so, consider whether the other inforniation 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 detern]ine whether this gives
ris¢ to a material misstatement in the financial statements thems¢lv¢s. If, based on the work we have perforni¢d,
we conclude that ther¢ is a mat¢rial misStat¢ment of this other inforn]ation, we ar¢ r¢quir¢d to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
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Report of the Independent Auditors to the Trustees of
Portstewart Baptlst Church
Matters on which Ive are required to report by exeeption
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where th¢ Charities (Accounts and Reports)
Regulations 2008 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:
the inforniation given in the Report of the Trustees is inconsistent in any material respect with the financial
statements- or
sufficient accounting records have not be¢n kept. or
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns. or
we have not received all the inforniation and explanations we require for our audit.
Responsibilities of trustees
As explained more fully in the Statement of TTUStees' Responsibilities, the trustees are responsible for the
preparation of the financial ststements which give a trne and fair view, and for such internal control as the
trustees detern]ine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material
misstatement, whether due to fraud or erioT.
In preparing the financial statem¢nts, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charity's ability lo continue
as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concem and using the going concern
basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate tbe charity or to cease operations, or have no
realistic alternative but to do so.
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Report of the Independent Auditors to the Trustees of
Portstewart Baptist Church
Our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements
We have been appointed as auditors under Section 65(2) of the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 and
report in accordance with regulations made under Section 66 of that Act.
Our objectives are to obtain Teasonable assuranc¢ about whether the f￿anCIal statements as a whole are free
from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue a Report of the Independent Auditors
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 aggTegat¢,
they could reasonably be expected to influ¢nce the cconomic decisions of users taken on the basis of these
financial statements.
The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting I￿egular1tie$, including fraud is d¢tailed below-.
Having considered the nature of the Charity and the sector in which it operates, we identified that the principal
risks of non-compliance with laws and regulations related to breaches of health and safety laws, employment
law and environmental regulations. W¢ considered the extent to which non-compliance might have a material
effect on thc financial statements.
We evaluated management's incentives and opportunities for fraudulent manipulation of the financial
statements (including the risk of override of controls) and deterniined that the principal risks were related to
incompleteness of income. Audit procedures perfornied included:
Assessment of compliance with key laws and regulations.
- Enquiry of those charged with governance including any known or suspected instances of non-compliance
with laws and regulations, potential litigation. and fraud.
Identifying and testing transactions for appropriateness, evaluating the rationale for significant transactions
outside what is nomial for the charity and assessing whether the judgments made in making accounting
estimates are indicative of potential bias, in order to assess the risk of fraud through management override of
controls.
Analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships that may indicate risks of material
misstatement due to fraud.
Challenging assumptions and judgments made by management in significant accounting estimates.
Reviewing the disclosures in the financial statements against the specific legal requirements.
Substantive testing of Balance Sheet items, together with a high level of individual account analysis.
Comparison of income disclosed in Financial Statements to original Bar]k Statements
W¢ 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.
There are inherent limitations in the audit procedures outlined above. We are less likely to become aware of
instances with laws and regulations that are not closely related to events and transactions r¢fl¢cted in th¢
financial statem¢nts. Also, the risk of not detecting a material misstatement due to fraud is higher than the
risk of not detecting one resulting from e￿Or, as fraud may involve deliberate concealment.
A further description of our responsibilities for th¢ audit of the fInancial statements is located on the Financial
Reporting Council's web51te at www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description fornis part of our
Report of the Independent AuditQTS.
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Report of the Independent Auditors to the Trustees of
Portstewart Baptist Church
Use of our report
This report is made solely to the charity's trustees. as a body, in accordance with Part 4 of the Charities
(Accounts and Reports) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we
might state to the charity's trustees those matt¢rs we are required to state to them in an auditors, report and for
no other purpose. To the ￿lIest extent perniitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone
other than the charity and the charity's trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this repoTL or for the opinions
we have fonned.
John Mccleary (Senior Statutory Auditor)
for and on behalf of Mccleary & Company Ltd
Chartered Accountants and Registered Auth'tors
Garvey sthdios
14 Longstone Street
Lisbum
Co. Antrim
BT28 ITP
Date: 25 September 2024
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