AmazonScience/document-haystack

1Laws and regulations – identifying and responding to risks of material misstatement relating to compliance with laws 2and regulations3Laws and 4regulations risk 5assessment 6We identified areas of laws and regulations that could reasonably be expected to have a material effect on the 7financial statements from our general commercial and sector experience, inspection of industry publications 8and through discussion with the Directors and other management (as required by auditing standards), and 9from inspection of the Group’s regulatory and legal correspondence and discussed with the directors and other 10management the policies and procedures regarding compliance with laws and regulations.11As the Group is regulated, our assessment of risks involved gaining an understanding of the control environment 12including the entity’s procedures for complying with regulatory requirements.13Risk  14communications15We communicated identified laws and regulations throughout our team and remained alert to any indications 16of non-compliance throughout the audit. This included communication from the Group audit team to full-scope 17component audit teams of relevant laws and regulations identified at the Group level, and a request for full 18scope component auditors to report to the Group audit team any instances of non-compliance with laws and 19regulations that could give rise to a material misstatement at the Group level.20Direct laws 21context and link to 22audit23The potential effect of these laws and regulations on the financial statements varies considerably.24Firstly, the Group is subject to laws and regulations that directly affect the financial statements including 25financial reporting legislation (including related companies legislation), and taxation legislation and we assessed 26the extent of compliance with these laws and regulations as part of our procedures on the related financial 27statement items.28Most significant 29indirect law/30regulation areas31Secondly, the Group is subject to many other laws and regulations where the consequences of non-compliance 32could have a material effect on amounts or disclosures in the financial statements, for instance through the 33imposition of fines or litigation or the loss of the Group’s licence to operate. We identified the following areas 34as those most likely to have such an effect: anti-bribery and corruption, recognising the nature of the Group’s 35operations, betting and gaming regulation and responsible gaming legislation across all of the territories where 36the Group generates material revenues. 37For the matters discussed in note 33 we assessed disclosures against our understanding from inspection of 38correspondence received by the entity and inquiries with external legal counsel.39Auditing standards limit the required audit procedures to identify non-compliance with these laws and 40regulations to enquiry of the directors and other management and inspection of regulatory and legal 41correspondence, if any. Therefore, if a breach of operational regulations is not disclosed to us or evident from 42relevant correspondence, an audit will not detect that breach.43Context44Context of the 45ability of the audit 46to detect fraud or 47breaches of law or 48regulation49Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that we may not have detected some 50material misstatements in the financial statements, even though we have properly planned and performed our 51audit in accordance with auditing standards. For example, the further removed non-compliance with laws and 52regulations is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely the inherently 53limited procedures required by auditing standards would identify it.54In addition, as with any audit, there remained a higher risk of non-detection of fraud, as fraud may involve 55collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal controls. Our audit 56procedures are designed to detect material misstatement. We are not responsible for preventing non-compliance 57or fraud and cannot be expected to detect non-compliance with all laws and regulations.581 Overview 8 Strategic report 88 Governance 140 Financial statements59Entain plc Annual Report 202315460Independent 61Auditor’s Report