Assignment Sample on BAF_7_AUR Audit Risk

Introduction

Auditing is referred to as the examination of several books of accounting along with checking inventory physically, done by an auditor in order to make sure that every department of the company is recording transactions by following documented systems. It is done to ascertain the accuracy of the financial information presented by the companies. In this report, the discussion will be on business risks faced by Waitrose Limited in accordance with the audit risk faced due to Brexit and Covid-19 pandemic. Furthermore, responses of the audit firms will be evaluated due to the unpredictable future of several businesses with the assistance offered by appropriate regulators.

Company background

Waitrose is a British supermarket brand, founded in 1904. Primarily the name of the company was Waite, Rose & Tailor which was later known as Waitrose. The owner of the company is John Lewis Partnership (JLP) with its head offices located in Victoria and Bracknell, England. Waitrose has 332 shops across the UK, which includes 65 convenience shops of the company usually known as ‘Little Waitrose’ (Waitrose, 2021). Waitrose is the eighth-largest grocery retailer in the UK with a groceries market share of 5.1% (Waitrose, 2021). The company also exports its items and products to 52 countries along with having its other locations in the Middle East. The company serves areas of the UK as well as the Channel Islands. Revenue generated as of 2021 is £144.6 million. Total number of employees working in Waitrose is more than 52,590 (Waitrose, 2021). The chains of Waitrose have an ‘upmarket’ reputation within the international business platform. However, the former managing director Mark Price suggested that the prices are competitive to that of the products of Tesco, which is a mid-market chain. The company also has a royal warrant for supplying groceries, spirits, and wine to Queen Elizabeth Ⅱ and to Prince Charles from 1 January 2011.

Business risks and Disruptions

Internal Auditor

The organisation has an internal auditing committee that handles internal audit affairs. In this regard, the key individuals involved in the auditing process is Andy Martin is the chairperson of the committee followed by Rita Clifton who holds the position of Non-Executive Director whereas Ollie Killinger is the Elected Director of the committee (John Lewis partnership, 2021). Apart from that, there are also Zarin Patel and Sharon Rolston who are Independent External members. These individuals are responsible for handling the internal auditing committee for the company and are responsible for maintaining the integrity of financial matters with different partners of the organisation and formal announcements. The auditing committee is also responsible for maintaining the effectiveness of different partnership systems and controlling the internal matters and risk management aspects handled by the company. Moreover, there is a range of different laws and regulations that organisations need to follow in order to operate properly in the markets of the UK and the internal auditing committee ensures that the company follows and complies with all these regulations. Regulations such as o Regulation (EC) No 1606/2002 applicable under IFRS are thoroughly maintained by the committee (John Lewis partnership, 2021).

External Auditor

The organisation also has a partnership with the external auditor, and in this case, it is KPMG LLP that has a contract for auditing the company’s external affairs for 2020/21. The partnership with KPMG LLP turned out to be a fruitful strategy for the company as based on the reports published by the company on 25th January 2020 it was identified that the organisation has successfully identified several issues within the organisation (John Lewis partnership, 2021). Based on the relevance of these findings the organisation has been re-appointed by Waitrose as a part of its partnership board for at least the next 10 years. In this regard, KPMG LLP audited several operations late by Waitrose and evaluated the company’s internal and external performance based on regulations such as Supply Chain Practices, Market Investigation Order 2009, and Grocery Supply Code of Practice (John Lewis partnership, 2021).

All the auditing practices that were undertaken by KPMG LLP during the period of 2020 to 2021 were under the requirements and regulations of the Companies Act 2006, which also complies with the regulations of IFRS and interpretations of IFRS. While appointing KPMG as the external auditor of the organisation there were several aspects that were taken into consideration such as

• The working plan of the auditors for the period of 2020 to 2021
• The experience of the auditor team and their expertise in this sector
• The conditions and extent of the independent auditor’s duties, as specified in the written contract (John Lewis partnership, 2021)

After conducting the external audit of Waitrose, KPMG has come up with several risks that are associated with the operations of Waitrose. It is essential for the organisation to consider these risks to be harmful to the company’s operations in the long run thereby developing mitigation strategies and aligning their business operations according to such risks present in their operations. The audit team’s constructive criticism and professional scepticism in dealing with management has helped Waitrose to overcome any loopholes presented in the financial structure of the company (John Lewis Partnership, 2021).

Operational risks

A number of operational risks are there that are involved in the operations of Waitrose, which have occurred after Brexit and during the Covid-19 pandemic. These are as follows:

Data security

As per the annual reports of the company, it has been seen that computer security has subsequently increased in the covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, considering industrial data and statistics it has been seen that around 4000 data security threats in the retail sector occur every year (Sneberger, 2021). In a survey conducted among the consumers in the retail segment, it has been seen that 33% of them have reflected data security threats with their connected retailers. This subsequently increases the concern of Waitrose regarding the data security of their servers which includes crucial information about their customers and their financial credentials. One of the major risks that data security exposes customers to is the risk of phishing attacks as well as social engineering attacks. Due to the presence of such threats in the exposure of consumers’ data to external factors and perpetrators can detrimentally impact the reputation of Waitrose regarding their customer data security (Ozkiris and Omeroglu, 2021). Furthermore, the regulation links to whether data security has also seen some changes after Brexit and due to which companies like Waitrose have had to change their data security policies and align themselves with the new data security regulations.

Apart from that, another risk that is linked with the data security in the company is the loss of data linked with customers. Customer data is utilised by the organisation in order to assess changing trends in the market. Therefore, if the company loses customer data, then they would not be able to develop demand and supply forecasts in which country the company’s business operations are in both short and long term (TIMOTIUS and OCTAVIUS, 2021). Furthermore, if the information and news of data loss link with customers gets leaked in the market then there are chances that the reputation of the organisation will decline which can have a serious impact on their brand image. Since the company is closely linked with the royal family and provides specific services to them, it is essential for Waitrose to maintain its brand image and position. In case of data loss and cybersecurity, the company can lose its contract and partnership with the royal family, which can have an overall and negative impact on the company’s performance in the long run (Goi, 2021). Moreover, the link with the royal family also acts as a competitive advantage for Waitrose, and therefore, in no way or condition the company can afford to lose these links.

Cyber security

Cybersecurity is another risk that is linked with data security that is raised over the online platforms of the company that are under the risk of being hacked. The online platform of the organisation holds information regarding customers that regularly shop from the store (Cao, 2021). As a result, it becomes essential for the organisation to ensure that their website that continuously collects information from customers keeps them safe and secure. The cybersecurity threat is not only a problem for Waitrose itself but is also a threat to the consumers due to which consumers often avoid giving their personal details and information to companies like Waitrose. Another major risk that is associated with cybersecurity in terms of Waitrose is that external threats can totally cripple the organisation’s website and therefore, have a major impact on consumers and their regular purchases (Ameen et al. 2021). Since the covid-19 pandemic, Waitrose has effectively utilised its online platforms to connect and engage with customers and in case of any external attacks on their website, such channels of communication, and line of engagement would get disabled. This can create panic among consumers and the company cannot only lose its consumer base but can also see a decline in its share prices (Li and Xu, 2021). The equity share market of Waitrose are quite volatile and therefore, threats and risks when faced by companies can influence shareholders to sell major shares of the company. The combined effect of this can lead to a declining price of their shares in a very short period of time and can also discourage new shareholders to buy their shares (Kabanda, 2021). This impacts the overall cash flow and profitability of the company in the long run while also damaging its reputation in the market.

Partner and safety of customers

The risk of partners and the safety of consumers is a major matter of concern for Waitrose. During the time of pandemic, retail stores like Waitrose had to shut down in order to avoid social gatherings (Baber, 2021). However, once the stores started opening up, they had to follow the newly established rules and regulations pertaining to the safety of customers and employees working in the company. The provision of mask, sanitizers, and individual temperature monitoring equipment became a necessity to retail stores in and around every location within the UK. The company also has to encourage the customers to visit the stores wearing masks and have properly sanitized hands so that the risk of spreading the virus can be minimised within the store.

Apart from customers visiting the stores, the company also had to maintain safety regulations with the partners of the company, which primarily includes the suppliers of the organisation as well as the employees working in the company (Budd et al. 2021). It became essential for the organisation to increase the quality assurance of all the items prepared from the different suppliers under the supply chain of the organisation.

Operation of shops and compliance with regulations

There were several complaints applications that were instituted by the NHS and it was essential for Waitrose to follow these regulations to continue with the regular operations of their retail stores (Ma et al. 2021). One of such regulations was the use of NHS QR code posters in retail stores that had close contact services. The use of such QR codes would help the NHS for tracing customers and test them in case of any vulnerabilities and threats relating to the virus. Furthermore, these QR codes would also help NHS as well as Waitrose to identify if the customer has to visit the stores have been vaccinated or are found to be tested positive so that they can take necessary steps and avoid further spreading of the virus. Adding to that, as per the regulations of NHS, Waitrose also had to maintain a separate toilet and restrooms so that customers can wash their hands and sanitize themselves while entering or leaving stores. It was essential for the company to maintain the stock of tissue papers as it was regulated by the NHS and these encouraged customers to use tissues in case they wanted to cough or sneeze (Gov.uk, 2021). Furthermore, the provision of dustbins at regular intervals within the store was also a necessary part of operating the stores. Adding to that, it was also regulated by the NHS to minimise the possibility of close contact transactions and rather adopt contactless payments in order to minimise the spread of the virus that might occur due to close contact payments. Apart from that, another regulation that was instituted by the government of the UK was to minimise the number of employees working in the stores so that contact between two individuals can be minimised (Gov.uk, 2021).

Accuracy of stock movement

The covid-19 pandemic has created several steps in consumer behaviour and preferences due to which the demand for several items have subsequently decreased as well as increased depending upon their needs and requirements among the regular consumer base (Panzone et al. 2021). For instance, the demand for essential items, which includes food, sanitizer, drinks and others has increased subsequently whereas, the demands for luxury items have declined simultaneously. These rapid shifts in demand have also created a risk for the company in terms of managing its stocks in an effective manner. For instance, if the organisation is not able to move stocks from the inventory to the retail stores linked with products that have a higher demand in the market, then there are significant chances that the company would miss out on volume sales (Cai et al. 2021). Therefore, the company needs to constantly track changing market trends as well as come up with a greater demand forecast so that movement of stocks can be accurately done in a short period of time. In this regard, the company needs to improve its inventory management as well as increase the effectiveness of its logistics systems. Not only that, the company also needs to maintain a positive relationship with all the suppliers as during such a crisis the relationship and partnership with suppliers play a major role in determining the competitiveness of the company. The retail industry of the UK is highly saturated considering the fact that there are several companies operating in the same industry like Tesco, Sainsbury, Marks and Spencer and many more (JUNG and JEON, 2021). Hence, losing onto market share as little as 1% can have a major impact on the company’s competitiveness in the long run.

Audit Risks and response to such challenges

Risk of fraud

During the period of Covid-19 pandemic, Waitrose might have faced several auditing risks and challenges. Covid-19 had presented a fraud risk known as ‘perfect storm’. Therefore, auditors of the company might have been on high alert due to such introduction of risks. There are three sides of the fraud risks such as pressure or incentive, opportunity and rationalization. During the pandemic, several businesses were affected economically along with Waitrose. Risks of fraud were high due to the fraudulent entries, as the employees could possibly change the numbers in the financial statement in order to sustain the viability of the company (Dohrer, 2020). Furthermore, the employees of the company may also have been under pressure of further worsening of the situation, which could affect their personal financial situation. Additionally, internal controls breakdowns of financial reporting during that situation may have increased the chances of fraudulent reporting of finance and assets misappropriation. From mid-March to May, it was seen that several employees claimed to be jobless (Brooks et al. 2021). Rationalization of an employee takes place when the person rationalises or justifies these activities of fraud thinking that he or she is responsible for the company’s betterment and therefore changes the numbers or figures in the financial statement for companies’ betterment. Furthermore, if an employee takes some money from the organisation without notifying the company and further tries to rationalize the thinking of paying or returning the money back as soon as everything comes back to the situation of normalcy. These challenges can be mitigated by the auditors at the time of planning an audit in a company. While audit planning, the teams of the audit must consider any potential risk of fraught that could have taken place and which can have a materialistic effect on the company’s financial statements (Jones, 2021). An understanding of actions that are undertaken by the management in order to mitigate these challenges must be taken into consideration by the auditors. Finally, evaluation must be done by the auditors on the audit planning for any necessary need for change or adjustments.

Non-compliance with regulations

Similar to the risks of frauds, the risk of Non-Compliance with Laws and Regulations (NOCLAR) may be accelerated in Waitrose after the emergence of pandemic. Businesses have considered the necessity to participate in different forms of federal economic stimulus funding which included such programs that were specifically enacted for the relief from the haphazard effects of the pandemic (Chapman, 2021). Several pandemic-relief legislations were being provided by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Securities (CARES) Act. It can be stated that the funds provided by such relief centres are complex to put in appropriate uses of the company. Various regulations of law are put in place in order to regulate the use of these funds in appropriate places, which often gets complicated to analyse. The complex nature of such regulations along with the fact that the application of those funding needed to be presented or submitted as soon as possible used to be critical. Furthermore, submission of the files with entries regarding the use of such funds at the time when staff are working remotely from their respective homes for the first time, might have led the risk of inadvertent non-compliance with regulations to a heightened level (MacRae et al. 2021). During the Covid-19 pandemic every business organisation irrespective of its size and nature of business has suffered immense pressure to manage their earnings and maintain levels of profit. Similar instances can be seen in case of Waitrose where the company have suffered loss while operating the business at global level. Hence, letting them face regulatory pressure in maintain stakeholders funds and delivering return over investments. Every business was forced to shut down in order to abstain from spreading the Coronavirus. None of the policies of the company was made in such a way, which could handle such a situation of crisis where every employee of the office either has to leave office and stop working or have to work from home (Kemp et al. 2020). Furthermore, working from a distance leads to several misunderstandings and creates a communication gap among the employees and the higher officials. Additionally, auditing of such companies in such situations might have been extensively critical with such kind of relief funding from the governments. Along with staying consistent with the responses taken for the risks of fraud, audit teams must consider and be aware of such potential risk in regards to NOCLAR that could directly and visibly affect the financial statements of the company (Appelbaum et al. 2020). Scrutinising on every detail of the financial statement can assist in identifying such flaws.

Risk of internal control breakdown

The situation of the businesses along with Waitrose during the span of the pandemic was severely critical. When the government announced the stay-at-home order during the months of March and April, a new reality was presented in front of the business entities. Their shift from the office premises to remote working along with the shift of the processes of financial reporting from front-end meeting with people to through virtual mediums increased the chances of internal control breakdown within the operations of business (Nezhyva and Miniailo, 2020). The auditors are responsible for evaluating the designs and implementing control, which are relevant to that specific audit of every client. In order to determine that the control is relevant to the audit, auditors should make use of their personal judgement. Auditors are responsible for considering what can go wrong from the perspective of financial reporting and how the controls will be able to mitigate such risks.

The controls, which were relevant for Waitrose before the emergence of pandemic, might have been outdated and changed dramatically due to pandemic for continuing work processes remotely rather than working in the offices. In such situations and cases, auditors may have to conduct two different evaluations and control implementation (Jewkes et al. 2020). These are

• Controls which were in place before the emergence of the pandemic
• Controls put in place after the commencement of the pandemic

This will extensively depend on the control’s nature as well as how the pandemic affected the operation of the client. For instance, if a grocery store did not have any activity while the shutdown orders of the pandemic were in effect, evaluation of control during that period will be significantly less relevant. When the auditors of the company detect certain material weaknesses and deficiencies in the internal control from the financial reporting, identified matters in the audit regarding the internal control need a written communication, which will signify all the identified issues and help in implementing control (Martinelli et al. 2020).

Risks in financial statements, forecasts and estimates

Forecasts and estimates are inherently uncertain in nature. The impact of Brexit and Covid-19 combinedly increased the accuracy risk of forecast and estimates. There was also an increase in risk of management bias for developing forecasts and estimates, which are related to fraud risk in the current situation. For instance, risks arose from the uncertainty in the estimates and forecast of the management in regards to impairment of assets, fair value calculation, going concern, recovery of the deferred tax assets and provision of loss in accounting of contract. Due to changes in rates of discounts, measurements can also be affected. Assessment of the level of financial statement risks like the going concern may become higher than the normal when the management of Waitrose has undertaken very limited means of analysis for the impact of Brexit (Jackson et al. 2021). Such risks can also be higher when the management has undertaken the analysis but has not considered material uncertainties and relevant risks. Audit and risk committee of Waitrose has also analysed other financial statement risks, which includes covenant breaches that considers and analyses whether the company at that situation is at higher risk of covenant breaches (John Lewis partnership, 2021). This could impact the liability classification and the assessment of going concern. Furthermore, the company can also face other risks such as contract modification, risks due to use of complex financial instruments and other accounting issues. Substantive analytical procedures can be much more difficult to undertake because of the uncertainty and unpredictability nature of the Covid-19 and Brexit along with associated difficulties that can arise for developing a reasonable expectation and obtaining corroboration for explaining to the management.

Auditors and management of Waitrose may find it helpful to undertake the reverse stress testing in combination with the testing of traditional stress while considering forecasts and estimates (ICAEW, 2020). Certain things need to be considered by the auditors such as whether the disclosures present in the financial statements appropriately reflect their business understanding and are consistent with the annual report.

Sector-specific risk factors

The auditors working in the retail sector of the country need to consider the risks related to Brexit and its impact on the retail sector they are auditing. Due to Brexit the UK based companies like Waitrose may had to change their marketing and selling pattern to a considerable extent. Before Brexit, free trade was allowed between the EU nations like Ireland (Trautrims et al. 2020). However, after Brexit extra charges were forced on the basis of trading fee, thus, the financial aspects were also being altered. The audit statement of different organizations highlights that the taxation policies have affected UK based employees and companies to a large extent where their costing got affected. The company expenditure has increased to 4.2% after the implication of Brexit and the entire revenue generating system has been changed (Al-Aamaedeh and Alhosban, 2021). Whereas, in some cases it impacted the organisation in a negative manner. On the other hand, the non-UK companies, which are part of the EU, also had to pay a higher amount of tax (Al-Aamaedeh and Alhosban, 2021).

However, the rules of the audit do not change and all the legal calculations of the financial statement will be the same as it has been before. The taxes have increased which is the prime issue faced by the organisations. The main purpose of the audit is to enhance the credibility of the final statements produced by the company; thus, it becomes compulsory to avoid any legal offence (Levy, 2020). In order to avoid the audit issues, many organizations are doing a settlement with the EU nations as they have a strong customer base. However, the retail sector is planning to change their target market, as they are sometimes ineffective in order to meet the challenges. The overall production cost proves to be much higher and thus as a result the profit ratio is reduced. On the other hand, the top UK based retailers like Waitrose are successfully meeting the challenges with change management and effective strategies. However, they are also planning for alternative markets. Thus, the audit statement highlights the business operation challenges faced by the companies.

Arguments for and against the sustainability of regulatory recommendations

The recommendations that have been initiated by the regulatory bodies like the FRC during the Covid-19 pandemic that also happens to be right after the occurrence of Brexit might have an impact on the long-term sustainability of the company.

As per the regulations of FRC, it has been instructed to the companies operating in the retail industry of the UK to maintain specific records of their transactions (FRC, 2021). This is usually a regular norm for every company operating in the markets of the UK. However, during the Covid-19 pandemic due to lack of employees and workforce such activities become challenging for the company. As a result of which the chances of internal fraud or misreporting have subsequently increased and this can have a long-term impact on the company’s sustainability.

Moreover, as per the regulations of FRC, it was essential for the organisations to maintain hard copies of all the transactions wherever possible; however, this also creates an issue linked with sustainability. The increasing number of hard copies can discourage the sustainability policies that increase the use of paper and plastics therefore financial transactions have affected the company’s sustainability and increased its carbon footprint.

Apart from that, after the exit of the UK from the European Union all financial data and information were to be transferred to the FRC that were EEA based (FRC, 2021). The transferring of personal data from one regulatory body to another requires a considerable amount of human effort and collaboration; thus, manual errors can reduce the accuracy of the process. Therefore, the requirement of human resources in the transfer of data has also infected the company’s overall sustainability and use of resources to some extent.

On the other hand, regulations that were initiated by the FRC in terms of minimising the risks in operations have worked in the favour of a company’s sustainability as well (FRC, 2021). Regulations in terms of minimising risks of cyber security and data security have held the company to strengthen their overall online integrity that includes the critical and vital information of their consumer base. Protecting customer data on an online platform reduces the company’s requirement to maintain any hard copy and this reduces the carbon footprint of Waitrose to a great extent.

However, policies such as the provision of safety equipment and sanitizers have subsequently increased the issue of waste management. The company has to maintain a large array of dustbin in order to collect waste and minimising their impact over the environment became a major concern for Waitrose during the period of Covid-19.

Conclusion

The above findings have helped in identifying various auditing aspects linked with Waitrose and its operations in the markets of the UK. The report has helped in identifying the background of the organisation based on which it has been established that the company works in close contact with the royal family and also has a royal warrant to supply essential goods to the royal family. Based on this aspect, it has been established that the company has several regulations that it needs to follow from time to time. Apart from that, the report has also shed lihght over the business risks and descriptions that the company faces after the occurrence of the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit subsequently in the markets of the UK. In this regard, the role of the internal and external auditors of the company has been evaluated and discussed along with other regulations they need to follow to carry out their auditing process. The internal audit committee of the organisation has been depicted in the above sections along with the external auditor, which in this case is KPMG LLP. Based on the findings of the external and internal audits a number of operational risks have been identified such as data security, cyber security, safety of partners and customers. Adding to that, the report has also helped in the identification of audit risk as well as steps the organisation has taken in order to minimise the impact of such risks. Furthermore, linked with the sustainability of the regulator, recommendations provided by FRC have also been evaluated and critically discuss helping to identify which regulations causing sustainability issues for Waitrose in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit.

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