
External auditor
PwC is the Group’s current external
auditor, having been appointed in 2013.
The Group keeps this appointment under
review and, in line with current legislation
(see next paragraph below), has
commenced a competitive tender
process to appoint an external auditor
beginning with the audit in respect of the
nancial year ending 31 December 2023.
The Audit Committee believes that a
competitive tender will assist the
Committee in ensuring the continued
high quality of the external audit and will
ultimately be in the best interests of our
shareholders. The tender process is
underpinned by a tender framework
document which has been approved by
the Audit Committee and which includes
the tender timetable, the shortlist of
rms that are being invited to tender, the
assessment criteria and the composition
of the tender committee. The nal
selection decision will be made by the
Audit Committee following the nal
presentations by the audit rms
participating in the tender process.
Theprocess is due to be completed
before the end of the year.
The Statutory Audit Services for Large
Companies Market Investigation
(Mandatory Use of Competitive
TenderProcesses and Audit
Committee Responsibilities) Order
2014 (“CMAOrder”).
The Company conrms that it has
complied with the provisions of the CMA
Order for the 2021 nancial year. In
accordance with the CMA Order, the
Company is required to put the external
audit contract out to tender not later
than 2023. The Group has commenced a
competitive tender process to appoint an
external auditor beginning with the audit
in respect of the nancial year ending
31 December 2023. Further information
about this process is set out in the
paragraph above.
Auditors’ independence and objectivity
Both the Committee and the Board keep
the external auditors’ independence
under review. Since July 2016, the
Committee has been monitoring the
feespaid to the external auditors for
non-audit work at each Committee
meeting. Any non-audit work which will
result in fees exceeding £5,000 must be
approved in advance by the Committee
Chair. More substantial work involving
fees exceeding £50,000 requires the
approval of the Committee as a whole.
The Group receives a formal statement
of independence and objectivity from
PwC each year, and conrmation that
PwC’s partners and sta have complied
with UK regulatory and professional
requirements, including the Ethical
Standard 2019 issued by the Financial
Reporting Council. The Committee also
obtains quotes in a competitive tender
for all non-audit work performed, other
than for the auditors’ review of the
half-year results.
Fees for non-audit work carried out by
PwC as a percentage of audit fees for the
year ended 31 December 2021 were 22%
(2020: 22%) and related solely to PwC’s
review of our Interim Report. Further
disclosure of the non-audit fees paid
during the year ended 31 December
2021 can be found in note 8 to the
Consolidated Financial Statements.
External audit partners are rotated every
ve years. The external audit partner in
respect of the 2021 nancial year has
been Katharine Finn, who has now
completed two years in the role.
The Group continues to engage KPMG,
an independent accounting rm, to
perform Internal Audit work to further
ensure that the independence and
objectivity of the external auditors is
notcompromised.
Eectiveness of external auditors
During the year, the Committee reviewed
the eectiveness and independence of
the external auditors, using a
questionnaire which was completed
by key members of the Finance team
and each member of the Committee.
The questionnaire asked individuals to
rate the performance of the PwC audit
team in the following areas: knowledge
and expertise; independence and
objectivity; eectiveness of the planning
process; ability to rmly challenge
management; and quality of audit
deliverables. The feedback from the
questionnaire was then used as the basis
for a more wide-ranging discussion at the
meeting held in May 2021 (at which PwC
were not present). The Committee
reviewed the external auditors’
discussions with, and reports to, the
Committee over the year to examine the
degree of objectivity exercised by the
external auditors, the robustness of their
challenge to management, their views
oncontrols around the Group and their
testing of areas which involved the
exercise of judgement by the
management team. Based on the
feedback and their further discussions,
the Committee concluded that:
•
the overall audit approach,
materiality threshold and areas of
audit focus were appropriate to the
business;
•
the auditors had displayed the
necessary level of challenge and
objectivity to demonstrate an
appropriate level of independence;
and
•
the audit team possessed the
necessary quality, expertise and
experience to provide an
independent and objective audit.
The ndings were fed back to PwC by the
Chair of the Committee.
Audit Committee Report
90
FDM Group (Holdings) plc
Annual Report and Accounts 2021