AUDIT ASSURANCE AND COMPLIANCE

Executive summary

In this study it has been determined that the financial reporting done by the management of Woolworths Limited was as per the standards provided by the Corporations Act 2001 and the IFRS and AASB. The study has disclosed the fact that the auditors have provided unqualified opinion regarding the financial reporting of the business. At the same time, the study has also mentioned about the key audit matters, which have been mentioned in the annual report of Woolworths Limited in the financial year 2017.

Introduction

Auditing is one of the most important activities that ensure transparency in the business. In Australia, the governing authority has recently made some modifications in the auditing standards. As per the new regulations the auditors are required to maintain better level of transparency while preparing the audit report. IAASB is the new auditor reporting requirements that have been implemented in Australia. In this study a thorough investigation will be made on the annual report of Woolworths Limited, the retail giant in Australia to identify whether the auditor’s report of the company has followed the new regulations implemented by the governing authority. This report will be prepared by considering the annual report or auditor’s report of Woolworths Limited for the year 2017.

Auditor’s independency

If the annual report 2017 of Woolworths Limited is considered, it can be identified that at page 52 the Auditor’s Independence Declaration has been mentioned. The audit team for the company was Deloitte. As per the report, the auditor has declared that the audit has been done as per the best knowledge of the auditor (Woolworthsgroup.com.au, 2018). The Section 307C of the Corporations Act 2001 has been maintained in this context. (Refers to Appendix 1)

Non-audit services

In the Director’s report and under the heading “Non-Audit Services” the directors of the company has mentioned that the auditors have taken part into some non-audit services. However, during the declaration for the same, the directors have not mentioned about the nature of the non-audit services provided by the auditors (Woolworthsgroup.com.au, 2018).

Analyzing Auditor’s remuneration table

In appendix 2 of this report the Auditor’s Remuneration table provided in the annual report 2017 of Woolworths Limited can be identified. If this table is analyzed, it can be identified that the remuneration to the auditors of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Australia for reviewing the financial report has increased by 18.41% (Woolworthsgroup.com.au, 2018). At the same time, the remuneration for Regulatory and compliance related services and Tax compliance services has declined by 46.02% and 4.42% respectively. However, the part of remuneration for the other non-audit services has increased by 143.35% (Woolworthsgroup.com.au, 2018). Therefore, if the total remuneration to the auditors of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Australia is considered it will be seen that the total remuneration has increased from 2016 to 2017, which indicates that the expectation of the auditors of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Australia for remuneration has increased (Woolworthsgroup.com.au, 2018).

On the other hand, the auditor’s remuneration table also disclosed that the remuneration to the other auditors has also increased from 2016 to 2017 (Woolworthsgroup.com.au, 2018). The table is indicating that the company has disclosed the detailed information related to the auditors’ remuneration has been disclosed properly by the company.

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