2022 ANNUAL REPORT

37 FINANCIAL REPORT We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Co‑operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 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 are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or – certain disclosures of the General Committee’s remuneration specified by law are not made; or – we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit. RESPONSIBILITIES OF GENERAL COMMITTEE As explained more fully in the General Committee’s responsibilities statement on page 34, the General Committee 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 General Committee determine 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 General Committee are responsible for assessing the club’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 General Committee either intend to liquidate the club or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so. AUDITOR’S 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 Auditor’s 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. We identified that the principal risk of fraud or non- compliance with laws and regulations related to: – management bias in respect of accounting estimates and judgements made; – management override of control; – posting of unusual journals or transactions; We focussed on those areas that could give rise to a material misstatement in the club financial statements. Our procedures included, but were not limited to: – Enquiry of management and those charged with governance around actual and potential litigation and claims, including instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations and fraud; – Reviewing minutes of meetings of those charged with governance where available; – Reviewing legal expenditure in the year to identify instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations and fraud; – Reviewing financial statement disclosures and testing to supporting documentation to assess compliance with applicable laws and regulations; – Performing audit work over the risk of management override of controls, including testing of journal entries and other adjustments for appropriateness, evaluating the business rationale of significant transactions outside the normal course of business and reviewing accounting estimates for bias. It is the primary responsibility of management, with the oversight of those charged with governance, to ensure that the entity’s operations are conducted in accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations and for the prevention and detection of fraud. Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation.This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation. 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 Auditor’s report. USE OF OUR REPORT This report is made solely to the club’s General Committee, in accordance with section 87 of the Co- operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the club’s General Committee 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 club and the club’s General Committee, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed. PKF Smith Cooper Audit Limited Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditors 2 Lace Market Square, Nottingham, NG1 1PB 11 January 2023