Page 81 - CCB_Annual Report_2022

80 Independent Auditors’ Report 81

Responsibilities for the financial statements and the audit Use of this report
This report, including the opinions, has been prepared for and only for the company’s members as a body in accordance with
Responsibilities of the directors for the financial statements Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006 and for no other purpose. We do not, in giving these opinions, accept or
As explained more fully in the Statement of Directors' Responsibilities, the directors are responsible for the preparation of the assume responsibility for any other purpose or to any other person to whom this report is shown or into whose hands it may
financial statements in accordance with the applicable framework and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view. come save where expressly agreed by our prior consent in writing.
The directors are also responsible for such internal control as they determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial
statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. Other required reporting

In preparing the financial statements, the directors are responsible for assessing the company’s ability to continue as a going Companies Act 2006 exception reporting
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 company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so. Under the Companies Act 2006 we are required to report to you if, in our opinion:

Auditors’ responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements • we have not obtained all the information and explanations we require for our audit; or
• adequate accounting records have not been kept by the company, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material from branches not visited by us; or
misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditors’ report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance • certain disclosures of directors’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or
is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a • the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns.
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 We have no exceptions to report arising from this responsibility.
these financial statements.
Appointment
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 Following the recommendation of the audit committee of Cambridge & Counties Bank Limited, we were appointed by the
which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud, is detailed below. directors on 24 September 2021 to audit the financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2022 and subsequent
financial periods. This is therefore our first year of uninterrupted engagement.
Based on our understanding of the company and industry, we identified that the principal risks of non-compliance with laws
and regulations related to the Financial Conduct Authority’s regulations, the Prudential Regulation Authority’s regulations and
UK tax legislation, and we considered the extent to which non-compliance might have a material effect on the financial
statements. We also considered those laws and regulations that have a direct impact on the financial statements such as the
Companies Act 2006. We evaluated management’s incentives and opportunities for fraudulent manipulation of the financial
statements (including the risk of override of controls), and determined that the principal risks were related to the posting of
inappropriate manual journal entries to manipulate financial performance and management bias in significant accounting
estimates. Audit procedures performed by the engagement team included: Chris Shepherd (Senior Statutory Auditor)
for and on behalf of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
• Review of internal audit and compliance monitoring findings throughout the year; Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditors
• Reading key correspondence with the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority; Birmingham
• Incorporation of an element of unpredictability in our testing through altering the nature, timing and/or extent of work 30 March 2023
performed;
• Challenging assumptions and judgements made by management in their significant accounting estimates;
• Identifying and testing journal entries, in particular any journal entries posted by senior management, posted with
descriptions indicating a higher level of risk, posted to unusual account combinations based on our understanding of usual
business operations, and material late adjustments.

There are inherent limitations in the audit procedures described above. We are less likely to become aware of instances of
non-compliance with laws and regulations that are not closely related to events and transactions reflected in the financial
statements. Also, the risk of not detecting a material misstatement due to fraud is higher than the risk of not detecting one
resulting from error, as fraud may involve deliberate concealment by, for example, forgery or intentional misrepresentations,
or through collusion.

Our audit testing might include testing complete populations of certain transactions and balances, possibly using data auditing
techniques. However, it typically involves selecting a limited number of items for testing, rather than testing complete
populations. We will often seek to target particular items for testing based on their size or risk characteristics. In other cases,
we will use audit sampling to enable us to draw a conclusion about the population from which the sample is selected.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the FRC’s website at:
www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditors’ report.

69 70