126 | Just Group PLC | Annual Report and Accounts 2023
INDEPENDENT AUDITORS’ REPORT to the members of Just Group plc
Our audit approach Context
REPORT ON THE AUDIT OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Opinion In our opinion, Just Group plc’s Group financial statements and Company financial statements (the “financial statements”): • give a true and fair view of the state of the Group’s and of the Company’s affairs as at 31 December 2023 and of the Group’s profit and the Group’s and Company’s cash flows for the year then ended; • have been properly prepared in accordance with UK-adopted international accounting standards as applied in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act 2006; and • have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006. We have audited the financial statements, included within the Annual Report and Accounts (the “Annual Report”), which comprise: the Consolidated statement of financial position and the Statement of financial position of the Company as at 31 December 2023; the Consolidated statement of comprehensive income for the year then ended; the Consolidated statement of changes in equity and the Statement of changes in equity of the Company for the year then ended; the Consolidated statement of cash flows and the Statement of cash flows of the Company for the year then ended; and the notes to the financial statements, comprising material accounting policy information and other explanatory information. Our opinion is consistent with our reporting to the Group Audit Committee. Basis for opinion We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (“ISAs (UK)”) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under ISAs (UK) are further described in the Auditors’ responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. Independence We remained independent of the Group in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, which includes the FRC’s Ethical Standard, as applicable to listed public interest entities, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. To the best of our knowledge and belief, we declare that non-audit services prohibited by the FRC’s Ethical Standard were not provided. Other than those disclosed in Note 3, we have provided no non-audit services to the Company or its controlled undertakings in the period under audit.
The Group is predominantly based in the United Kingdom and writes business across four main product lines, being Defined Benefit De-risking Solutions, Guaranteed Income for Life Solutions, Lifetime Mortgages and Care Plans. The Group has two regulated insurance companies, Just Retirement Limited and Partnership Life Assurance Company Limited, in addition to other financial services companies. In planning our audit, we met with the Group Audit Committee and members of management across the Group to discuss and understand business developments during the year, and to understand their perspectives on associated business risks. We used this insight and our knowledge of the Group and our industry experience when forming our own views regarding the audit risks and as part of developing our planned audit approach to address those risks. Given the activities of the Group, we have built a team with the relevant industry experience and technical expertise. Overview Audit scope • Our audit scope has been determined to provide coverage of all material financial statement line items. • Three reporting components were subject to full scope audits and we performed an audit of specific account balances for a further five components. Key audit matters • Valuation of insurance contract liabilities (Group). • Valuation of insurance contract liabilities - Annuitant mortality assumptions (Group). • Valuation of insurance contract liabilities - Credit default assumptions (Group). • Valuation of insurance contract liabilities - Expense assumptions (Group). • Valuation of investments classified as Level 3 under IFRS 13, including Lifetime Mortgages (Group). • Valuation of insurance contract liabilities and reinsurance assets and liabilities - Implementation of IFRS 17: Judgements, new models and data flows (Group). • Recoverability of the Company’s investments in Group undertakings (Company). Materiality • Overall Group materiality: £26,722,500 (2022: £21,778,000) based on 1% of Total Equity plus net of tax contractual service margin (“CSM”). • Overall Company materiality: £12,760,000 (2022: £12,852,000) based on 1% of Total Equity. • Performance materiality: £20,042,000 (2022: £16,333,500) (Group) and £9,570,000 (2022: £9,639,000) (Company). The scope of our audit As part of designing our audit, we determined materiality and assessed the risks of material misstatement in the financial statements.
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