Exam focus
Social and environmental has been examined several times in past exams. Any part of the engagement process could be examined from acceptance through to . You may also be asked to give examples of performance measures and sustainability indicators for a company.
1 The need for social and environmental and assurance
The need for social and environmental
Many companies develop and maintain social, ethical and environmental policies that can vary from highly generalised statements of ethical intention to more detailed corporate guidelines.
Today’s heightened interest in the role of businesses in society has been promoted by increased sensitivity to, and awareness of environmental and ethical issues. In addition, businesses are now expected to account for their impact on the social and natural environment.
Integrated is now common where other performance measures are included such as targets in relation to corporate and social responsibility matters.
Performance in this area is often a factor affecting the decision of employees, customers, and suppliers to engage with an organisation.
Key performance indicators (KPIs)
KPIs or business performance measures are financial and non-financial statistical measures that are chosen and monitored to determine the strategic performance of an organisation, including those factors of performance that are critical for the continued success of the organisation.
Monitoring of KPIs enables performance to be evaluated in comparison to benchmark performance criteria or progress to be compared to the results of competitors.
To generate KPIs for the company, management need to:
Identify the goals of the organisation in relation to social and environmental matters e.g. reduction of electricity and water usage.
Measure the performance e.g. taking meter readings of electricity and water usage.
Assess whether the goal has been achieved e.g. compare usage to the prior year to see if it has reduced.
In the exam you may be asked to suggest KPIs for a company. Make sure your suggestions are measurable, whether this is in:
$ (e.g. $ spent on charitable activities).
% (e.g. % of waste that is recycled).
Number (e.g. number of serious accidents in the workplace). Hours/days (e.g. hours/days given to volunteering).
You may also be asked how the assurance provider can verify the validity of the KPI i.e. what would be obtained.
The need for assurance reports on social and environmental reports
Many companies now publish social and environmental reports within their annual report.
Auditors may be engaged to report on the fairness and validity of KPIs.
This independent review will add credibility to the social and environmental data published and give assurance to external users that the progress claimed by a company’s management is in fact real progress.
This type of review is an example of an attestation engagement and is often referred to as an environmental audit.
Attestation engagements are explained in 12.
The importance of social and environmental policies
Issues like environmental damage, improper treatment of workers, and faulty production that inconveniences or endangers customers or staff are highlighted in the media.
In some countries, government regulation regarding environmental and social issues has increased.
Some investors and investment fund managers have begun to take account of a corporation’s social and environmental policies in making investment decisions.
Some consumers have become increasingly sensitive to the social and environmental performance of the companies from which they buy their goods and services.
These trends have contributed to the pressure on companies to operate in an economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable way.
The need for social and environmental
Sometimes there is a marked difference between a company’s code of ethics and their actual practices, giving rise to the opinion that such policies may be more of a marketing tool than a serious statement of intent.
In addition, environmental and social is normally voluntary although stakeholder pressure demands it in many industries and organisations in some industries are required to report on specific targets by law, therefore the extent and selection of measures varies significantly from company to company.
Each company is likely to have differing views on what to measure and how to measure it, making comparisons very difficult. For these reasons environmental and social can be a controversial area.
Generally an organisation will set an overall goal with specific targets to meet in relation to that goal.
There is obviously a great deal of skill and experience required to derive measures for social and environmental responsibility.
Two possible approaches can be used (which are not mutually exclusive):
Comply with an externally defined set of standards, and/or
Define one’s own set of relevant targets and indicators and monitor progress towards achieving these.
Many companies adopt a benchmarking approach where they work with a market leader in order to derive performance standards that will lead to improvement.
Common accreditations
Fair Trade Foundation
Fairtrade products include coffee, tea, bananas, sugar, cotton, flowers and gold. Consumers of Fairtrade products can be assured that products have been acquired from producers who have been paid a fair price, or where workers have been provided with fair pay and conditions.
Carbon Trust
A company issued with the Carbon Trust Standard must have demonstrated improvements in reducing carbon emissions, water usage or waste. Accreditation can be awarded individually or for all three aspects.
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
The FSC promotes responsible management of forests. Consumers purchasing timber or paper products containing the FSC ecolabel can be assured that the trees used have come from sustainable sources, as well as other ethical considerations.
McDonald’s Sustainability Report
International fast food chain McDonald’s publishes a Sustainability Report which covers:
Food – aiming to improve nutrition of its products and increase the amount of fruit, vegetables and wholegrains served to customers.
Sourcing – working with suppliers who are committed to doing business responsibly. Making sure that they meet McDonald’s requirements for ethics, environmental responsibility and economic viability.
Planet – seeking ways to improve restaurant efficiency, energy usage and costs, recycle waste and conserve and reuse water.
People – making a positive impact in employee lives by creating career opportunities and promoting diversity.
Community – giving something back to the community and being a good neighbour.
John Lewis Partnership example
The John Lewis partnership is the largest employee owned organisation in the UK, i.e. not owned by shareholders. The John Lewis partnership includes Waitrose supermarkets as well as John Lewis department stores.
“The Partnership’s ultimate purpose is the happiness of all its members, through their worthwhile and satisfying employment in a successful business. Because the Partnership is owned in trust for its members, they share the responsibilities of ownership as well as its rewards – profit, knowledge and power.”
The organisation publishes an annual sustainability report. Some of the measures reported on include:
Volunteer hours given
Number of apprentices Net new jobs created
Value donated to good causes
% of pre-tax profits given to charitable and community activities CO2 emissions
Refrigeration and cooling direct emissions Food packaging reduction
Transport emissions
Waste diverted from landfill Distribution mileage
Sustainable products:
– responsible sourcing of fish from wild capture fisheries
– soya from certified sustainable sources
– wooden products from recycled or certified sustainable sources
– own brand paper products from recycled or certified sustainable sources
– cotton from sustainable sources.
In addition to measuring these targets internally, the organisation looks to achieve third party accreditation where possible.
Impact of environmental matters on the audit
Certain types of organisation are high risk in terms of social and environmental . Typical examples are companies engaged in oil and gas exploration, shipping and nuclear waste reprocessing.
A company’s social and environmental obligations may lead to liabilities that must be recognised in the financial statements.
When an auditor realises that his client may have environmental issues that could impact the financial statements, additional procedures should be designed and carried out to detect any potential misstatements.
Possible areas that might lead to the risk of material misstatements include the following:
Provisions, e.g. for site restoration costs.
Contingent liabilities, e.g. arising from pending legal action.
Impairment of asset values, e.g. non-current assets or inventories that may be subject to environmental concern or contamination.
Accounting for capital or revenue expenditure on cleaning up the production process or to meet legal or other standards.
Product redesign costs.
Product viability/going concern considerations.
The following substantive procedures might be appropriate to detect potential misstatements in respect of social-environmental matters:
Obtain an appropriate understanding of the company, its operations, and, in particular, its environmental issues.
Enquire of management as to any systems or controls that are in place to identify risk, evaluate control, and account for environmental matters.
Seek corroborative of any statements made by management on environmental matters and obtain written representations.
Obtain from environmental experts where possible.
Use professional judgment to consider whether the in relation to environmental matters is sufficiently persuasive.
Review available documentation (board minutes, expert’s reports, correspondence with authorities or lawyers etc).
Review all assets for impairment.
Review liabilities and provisions to ensure all have been included and contingencies to ensure adequate disclosure.
Include environmental issues in the review of the appropriateness of going concern.
2 Planning an engagement
There are a number of issues that should be considered when planning an engagement to provide assurance over an entity’s business performance measures and sustainability indicators. These include:
Understanding and agreeing the scope of the engagement, i.e. is assurance to be provided on the outcome and measurement of the KPIs only, or on the fairness and validity of the entire KPI benchmarking exercise (e.g. including the appropriateness and completeness of the measures chosen).
Obtaining an understanding of the entity.
Considering the appropriateness of the KPIs chosen in the light of this understanding, ensuring the KPIs chosen represent the priorities of the company.
Reviewing and agreeing the KPIs over which assurance is to be provided, flagging any KPIs that are not specific enough to measure accurately, and over which assurance can therefore not be provided.
Identifying the that should be available in relation to each KPI in order to provide an assurance conclusion.
Considering the potential for manipulation of each KPI, to achieve the desired result, i.e. identifying those KPIs which present the highest engagement risk.
3 Procedures
The same principles for gathering apply for any type of assignment. The assurance provider should obtain sufficient appropriate to be able to form a conclusion on the subject matter. Procedures will include:
Enquiry of management and experts.
Recalculation of figures to verify arithmetical accuracy. Inspection of supporting documentation.
External confirmation from third party certification providers.
4 Problems
Measurement problems
KPIs may not be specific enough to measure accurately
Take, for example: ‘To increase the monetary value of charitable donations by 10% over the next 12 months.’
Although this appears easy enough to assess in principle, what would happen if the company chose to donate goods or time? How would you value donated goods (cost vs. sales price) and how would you value the time of volunteers (wage cost vs. value of skills contributed)? This becomes much more difficult to measure in practice.
The concepts involved may lack precise definition
Consider the concepts of ‘sustainability,’ ‘being green,’ ‘customer satisfaction,’ and ‘serious workplace accidents.’ All of these are common terms for KPIs but none of them have a standard definition and for that reason may lack credibility.
Absence of systems and controls
Companies that have only recently started to report this type of information may not have established a reliable system to record the information. This will affect the completeness and accuracy of the information.
Problems auditing social and environmental reports
Due to the complex and often subjective nature of social and environmental performance, on these matters is a difficult task.
Accountants lack the specific skills and experience needed to assess many environmental/social matters. For example, it appears unlikely that an auditor would be able to measure carbon emissions or energy consumption.
There is a significant amount of subjectivity with regard to social and environmental reports, for example, the use of the term ‘environmentally friendly.’
may not be sufficient or appropriate for the purposes of providing assurance. It is unlikely that companies will establish sophisticated measuring and recording systems to gather the data used for all KPIs. For example: if a company donates goods to charity it is unlikely that there will be invoices, orders, goods despatched notes, remittances, cash transactions etc. In this case how does the auditor determine the quantity and value of goods donated?
Potential for manipulation
Due to the problems mentioned above, management has scope to manipulate the figures to make them show what they want to present to stakeholders which increases risk for the auditor.
Independent verification statements
Where a review is carried out by an independent third party into the environmental matters of an organisation, an independent verification statement may be issued.
Some companies conduct an internal audit on environmental matters and have the internal audit verified by external assessors.
Some companies may contract for a third party independent review of their environmental matters.
Regardless of the type of review undertaken, the report will have some common features:
Methodology is stated
Matters reviewed are described
Reference is made to other documents where applicable
Conclusion is given.
The integrated report of the company will usually refer to the social and environmental performance indicators the company measures. Where an independent third party verifies this data, a statement will be included in the integrated report to this effect to enhance the credibility of such information.
Illustration of an independent verification statement
Below is an example of a report by an external assessor who might be a Registered Environmental Impact Assessor and/or a member of the Institute of Environmental Assessment or other recognised bodies.
External verification statement
AB & Company has conducted a formal independent verification of the internal audit undertaken by CD Construction plc.
Method and scope of the verification
The verification was conducted by reviewing the internal audit report and by interviewing the senior staff responsible for the audit. The verification examined the audit findings against 50 of the 64 targets in detail. The targets selected were those that had been awarded a maximum score for target achievement (10/10).
Internal audit’s role related to auditing progress against targets reported by CD Construction plc’s businesses and internal audit’s findings are included in the section on Environmental Performance Targets (we have not verified other sections of this report).
Opinion
We are satisfied that the internal audit was conducted against an appropriate methodology. We have reviewed the statements made about progress against targets and confirm that they accurately reflect the audit findings.
Signed
AB & Company
Wolverhampton
March 3 20X4
Current issue: Emerging forms of external
Discussion paper: Supporting Credibility and Trust in Emerging
Forms of External : Ten Key Challenges Emerging External Reports (EER) background
External by companies is increasingly providing non-financial information to meet the needs of stakeholders. This includes environmental, social and governance matters.
Many types of professional services can be performed in relation to this information, including advisory services, agreed-upon procedures, compilation engagements, assurance engagements and internal to management on the entity’s processes and controls.
Whilst some countries have developed their own standards on these matters, there is a need for global guidance to provide consistency and quality around the world.
The auditor will read the additional information in the annual report to identify any inconsistencies between the information and the financial statements and their knowledge obtained during the audit. However, they do not express a conclusion about this this information. A separate assurance engagement covering this information may add credibility to the EER report.
Reason for the discussion paper
The IAASB is looking into whether a specific standard should be developed to address a more specific type of engagement. This will keep international standards fit for purpose, support practitioners and support the quality of assurance engagements.
At present there is a lack of guidance for practitioners performing these
assurance engagements. The main form of guidance comes from
ISAE 3000 which is a framework neutral standard intended to be applied
to a wide range of assurance engagements.
Credibility and trust in relation to EER reports
Credibility and trust are enhanced if there are 4 key factors:
- Sound framework – the framework should address the objectives and qualitative characteristics of the information.
- Strong governance – the company should have a strong internal control system to ensure the information in the EER is reliable and available on a timely basis.
- Consistent wider information – the information in the EER report should be consistent with other sources of information likely to be available to users of the report.
- External professional service reports e.g. assurance reports – an accompanying report prepared by an external practitioner can add credibility due to their competence, objectivity, professional scepticism and judgment, and
Ten key challenges
The IAASB has identified ten key challenges which are barriers to more widespread use of assurance reports in relation to Emerging External Reports (EER):
- Determining the scope of the assurance engagement – the scope may be broader and more diverse. It may be difficult to provide a full scope engagement as the costs may outweigh the benefits.
- Evaluating the suitability of criteria – EER frameworks are less prescriptive and more ambiguous providing opportunity for management bias.
- Addressing materiality – EER has no common unit of measurement making materiality judgments difficult to benchmark. Due to the diversity of users, establishing materiality that applies to all will be difficult.
- Establishing appropriate assertions – the diverse nature of EER subject matter makes it more difficult to develop appropriate assertions.
- Maturity of governance and internal control processes – entities may not have sufficiently robust EER systems and controls in place. As a result the EER report may not be capable of being assured.
- Obtaining assurance over narrative information – narrative information may include management judgments and be more susceptible to management bias.
- Obtaining assurance over future-oriented information – future-oriented information is more common in EER reports. There is greater uncertainty over this information. Therefore the assurance may have to be limited to obtaining about the process used in arriving at the future-oriented information.
- Professional scepticism and judgment – EER reports are likely to contain information that is more susceptible to management bias resulting in a greater need to apply professional scepticism and judgment.
- Competence of practitioners – this type of engagement may call for broad specialised subject matter competence, greater need for experts and the use of multi-disciplinary teams.
- Form of the assurance report – to effectively communicate the conclusions to users, the report may need to include the following to ensure they are of use and not seen as ambiguous or difficult to interpret:
– a summary of the work performed which provides the basis for the conclusion
– additional information such as the terms of engagement, criteria, findings, competencies of the individuals involved, materiality levels and recommendations
– separate conclusions on one or more aspects of the subject matter.
Test your understanding 1
You are the manager responsible for the audit of The National Literary Museum (NLM), a museum focusing on famous literary works. Entry to the museum is free for all visitors and many visitors make repeat visits to the museum.
| NLM receives funding from government departments for culture and | ||||||||
| education, as well as several large charitable donations. The amount of | ||||||||
| funding received is dependent on three key performance indicator (KPI) | ||||||||
| targets being met annually. All three targets must be met in order to | ||||||||
| secure the government funding. | ||||||||
| Extracts from NLM’s operating and financial review are as follows: | ||||||||
| KPI target | Draft KPI | Prior year | ||||||
| actual | ||||||||
| Number of annual visitors: | 100,000 | 102,659 | 103,752 | |||||
| Proportion of total visitors of | ||||||||
| school age: | 25% | 29% | 27% | |||||
| Number of educational | ||||||||
| programmes run: | 4 | 4 | 4 | |||||
| 481 | ||||||||
Your firm is engaged to provide an assurance report on the KPIs disclosed in NLMs operating and financial review.
Required:
Discuss the difficulties that may be encountered when providing
assurance over the stated key performance indicators. (4 marks)
Test your understanding 2
Shire Oil Co (‘Shire’), a listed company, is primarily an oil producer with interests in the North Sea, West Africa and South Asia. Shire’s latest interim report shows:
| 30 June | 30 June | 31 December | |
| 20X4 | 20X3 | 20X3 | |
| Unaudited | Audited | Unaudited | |
| $000 | $000 | $000 | |
| Revenue | 22,000 | 18,300 | 37,500 |
| Profit before tax | 5,500 | 4,200 | 7,500 |
| Total assets | 95,900 | 92,300 | 88,400 |
| Earnings per share (basic) | $1.82 | $2.07 | $3.53 |
In April 20X4, the company was awarded a new five-year licence, by the central government, to explore for oil in a remote region. The licence was granted at no cost to Shire. However, Shire’s management has decided to recognise the licence at an estimated fair value of $3 million.
The most significant of Shire’s tangible non-current assets are its 17 oil rigs (20X3: 15). Each rig is composed of numerous items including a platform, buildings thereon and drilling equipment. The useful life of each platform is assessed annually on factors such as weather conditions and the period over which it is estimated that oil will be extracted. Platforms are depreciated on a straight line basis over 15 to 40 years.
A provision for the present value of the expected cost of decommissioning an oil rig is recognised in full at the commencement of oil production. One of the rigs in South Asia sustained severe cyclone damage in October 20X4. Shire’s management believes the rig is beyond economic recovery and that there will be no alternative but to abandon it where it is. This suggestion has brought angry protests from conservationists.
In July 20X4, Shire entered into an agreement to share in the future economic benefits of an extensive oil pipeline.
You are the manager responsible for the audit of Shire. Last year your firm modified its auditor’s report due to a lack of to support management’s schedule of proven and probable oil reserves to be recoverable from known reserves.
Required:
- Using the information provided, identify and explain the audit risks to be addressed when planning the final audit of Shire Oil Co for the
year ending 31 December 20X4. (12 marks)
- Describe the principal procedures to be performed in respect of the
useful lives of Shire Oil Co’s rig platforms. (5 marks)
You have just been advised of management’s intention to publish its yearly marketing report in the annual report that will contain the financial statements for the year ending 31 December 20X4. Extracts from the marketing report include the following:
‘Shire Oil Co sponsors national school sports championships and the ‘Shire Ward’ at the national teaching hospital. The company’s vision is to continue its investment in health and safety and the environment.
‘Our health and safety, security and environmental policies are of the highest standard in the energy sector. We aim to operate under principles of no-harm to people and the environment.
‘Shire Oil Co’s main contribution to sustainable development comes from providing extra energy in a cleaner and more socially responsible way. This means improving the environmental and social performance of our operations. Regrettably, five employees lost their lives at work during the year.’
Required:
- Suggest performance indicators that could reflect the extent to
which Shire Oil Co’s social and environmental responsibilities are being met, and the that should be available to provide
assurance on their accuracy. (8 marks)
(Total: 25 marks)
Test your understanding 1
The main reason why it may not be possible to provide a high level of assurance are:
The museum’s entry system may not record the total number of visitors each day and, given that entry is free, it may be difficult to identify relevant data from any accounting or financial systems of the museum.
However, if the museum has a turnstile entrance or issues a ticket to visitors even though they are not paid for, then will be easier to obtain.
It is unclear whether multiple visits by one person should be counted as separate visitors.
The museum’s entry system is unlikely to identify the age of all visitors.
However, it is likely that school parties must book their visits in advance and therefore some record of school age would be maintained. Also, if there is a ticketing system, it is possible that adults and children are recorded separately.
The KPI relating to educational programmes is poorly defined – what constitutes an educational programme? How long does it have to run? How many users have to benefit from it running?
If however, an educational programme means an exhibition or event that covers a national curriculum area, it may be easier to verify this KPI.
Tutorial note: When given a requirement of ‘discuss’, it is advisable to gives reasons both for and against the argument being stated.
Test your understanding 2
- Audit risks
Licence – initial recognition
A five-year licence has been granted to Shire at no cost. Shire has recognised this at an estimated fair value of $3m.
A licence may be valued at either cost or fair value. However, valuation other than at cost ($nil) is inherently risky as fair value has been estimated by management.
The licence may be unique (being for five years in a remote region) and in the absence of an active market, or recent transactions for which prices can be observed, it seems unlikely that any estimate of fair value made by management can be substantiated.
There is a risk of overvaluation of the licence.
Licence – amortisation
Assuming the recognition of the licence at fair value is deemed appropriate, it should be accounted for under IAS 38 Intangible Assets which requires the asset to be amortised over its useful life.
There is a risk that the licence is overstated if it has not been amortised over the five year period of the licence.
Research and development
Research and development costs (may also be described as exploration and evaluation costs or discovery and assessment) must be expensed unless/until Shire has a legal right to explore the area in which they are incurred.
In respect of the remote region, Shire can only capitalise costs incurred from April.
There is a risk of overstatement of intangible assets if research costs are capitalised incorrectly.
Property, plant and equipment
Item replacements (e.g. of drilling equipment) should be recognised as items of property, plant and equipment (and the replaced items as disposals) in accordance with IAS 16 Property, Plant and Equipment.
Constituent items of each rig should be depreciated over their useful lives. Management should reassess the useful life of each rig annually to ensure they are being depreciated appropriately.
Assets will be misstated if not depreciated over an appropriate period.
Decommissioning provision
One of the company’s oil rigs sustained severe damage in October and management have decided to abandon it. A decommissioning provision is recognised in full in respect of the oil rig.
A provision should only be recognised if there is a present obligation as a result of a past event that is probable to lead to an outflow of economic benefits and can be measured reliably (IAS 37 Provisions, Contingent Liabilities and Contingent Assets).
As management intend to abandon the rig, this would imply that there will be no dismantling of the rig and therefore no costs incurred.
There is a risk that the decommissioning provision is overstated if the company intends to abandon the rig and there is no obligation to take it down.
Abandoned rig – value
The cost of the rig includes the cost of decommissioning the rig at the end of its life. The rig is likely to have a value of $nil as there is no value in use and the rig is to be abandoned rather than decommissioned.
As the rig is no longer in use, depreciation should cease and an impairment review performed.
There is a risk the abandoned rig is overvalued in the financial statements as it is now impaired.
Abandonment of rig – liabilities
Further liabilities may result from the abandonment of the rig. This could include provision for redundancy of rig workers, fines/penalties as a result of abandoning the rig (IAS 37).
There is a risk that adequate disclosure is not made of the contingent liabilities and a risk that provisions are understated if not recognised in accordance with IAS 37.
Pipeline agreement
The oil pipeline is a jointly controlled asset that should be accounted for to reflect its economic substance in accordance with IAS 28 Investments in Associates and Joint Ventures.
Shire must recognise its share of the asset, liabilities and expenditure incurred and any income from the sale of its share of the oil output (as well as its own liabilities and expenses separately incurred).
There is a risk that appropriate disclosure of the joint venture is not made.
Previous year’s auditor’s report
The prior year auditor’s report was modified due to a lack of sufficient appropriate over the oil reserves.
If there is a similar lack of in the current year the opinion should be similarly qualified.
Even if the correct position at 31 December 20X4 is determinable, the auditor’s opinion at that date should be modified in respect of the impact, if any, on the opening position and comparative information (unless the opening oil reserves position has since been ascertained and can be corrected with a prior period adjustment).
Manipulation
As Shire is a listed company there will be pressures on its management to meet the expectations of users, in particular shareholders and analysts.
The fall in basic EPS (as compared with the first six months of the previous half year) may increase management bias to overstate performance in the second half year (to 31 December 20X4).
There is a risk of manipulation of the financial statements in order to impress the shareholders.
Operating segments
As a listed company, Shire is required to comply with the extensive disclosure requirements of IFRS 8 Operating Segments.
There is a risk that this disclosure has not been made or has not been made adequately.
Going concern
The oil industry is exposed to a volatile market. Shire operates in different regions with exposure to economic instability, currency devaluation and high inflation.
In addition, the company can only operate if they have a licence. Licences may be withdrawn if, for example, the company does not comply with environmental legislation.
There is a risk of inadequate disclosure of going concern issues.
- Principal audit work – useful life of rig platforms
– Review management’s annual assessment of the useful life of each rig at 31 December 20X4 and corroborate any information that has led to a change in previous estimates. For example, for the abandoned rig where useful life has been assessed to be at an end, obtain:
– weather reports
– incident report supported by photographs
– insurance claim, etc.
– Consider management’s past experience and expertise in estimating useful lives. For example, if all lives that are initially assessed as short (c. 15 years) are subsequently lengthened (or long lives consistently shortened) this would suggest that management is being over (or under) prudent in its initial estimates.
– Review the useful lives used by other oil companies as published in their annual reports to assess reasonableness of Shire’s depreciation rates.
– Compare actual maintenance costs against budget to confirm that the investment needed to achieve the expected life expectancy is being made.
– Compare actual output (oil extracted) to budget. If actual output is less than budgeted the economic life of the platform may be:
– shorter (e.g. because there is less oil to be extracted than originally surveyed)
– longer (e.g. because the rate of extraction is less than budgeted).
– Review the results of management’s impairment testing of each rig to assess reasonableness.
– Recalculate the cash flow projections (based on reasonable and supportable assumptions) discounted at a suitable pre-tax rate.
– Review of working papers of geologist/quantity surveyor(s) employed by Shire supporting estimations of reserves used in the determination of useful lives of rigs.
(c) Performance indicators
| Performance indicator | ||
| Absolute ($) level of investment in | Cash book to verify actual | |
| sports sponsorship, and funding to | level of investment ($) | |
| the Shire Ward | ||
| Number of sporting events/ | Correspondence with event | |
| medals/trophies sponsored | organisers to confirm | |
| sponsorship of events/ | ||
| medals/trophies | ||
| Press articles covering | ||
| sponsored events | ||
| Copies of advertisements | ||
| showing sponsorship by | ||
| Shire Oil | ||
| Number of patients treated | Reports from the hospital | |
| successfully during the year | regarding the Shire Ward | |
| occupancy | ||
| Average bed occupancy | Reports from the hospital | |
| regarding the Shire Ward | ||
| occupancy | ||
| Number of oil spills | Correspondence with | |
| industry regulator regarding | ||
| non-compliance | ||
| Press articles covering | ||
| publicised breaches | ||
| Board minutes | ||
| Number of breaches of health and | Correspondence with | |
| safety regulations and | industry regulator regarding | |
| environmental regulations | breaches | |
| Press articles covering | ||
| publicised breaches | ||
| Board minutes | ||
| Number of accidents and | Accident book | ||||
| employee fatalities | Correspondence with | ||||
| insurance company relating | |||||
| to claims made | |||||
| Board minutes | |||||
| Press articles | |||||
| Number of insurance claims | Cash book to verify amounts | ||||
| settled on insurance claims | |||||
| Correspondence with | |||||
| insurance company relating | |||||
| to claims made | |||||
| Staff turnover | HR records | ||||
| Average number of days absent | HR records | ||||
| per person per annum | |||||
