Corporate Governance and Risk Assessment of Woolworths Group Limited

The report analyzes the compliance of Woolworths, an ASX listed corporation, with the ASX corporate governance principles and its risk assessment procedures. It also discusses the audit risk present in the financial statements of the company and its impact on the materiality of the financial statements.

Audit Assurance and Compliance
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Executive Summary
The present report is developed to analyze and examine the corporate governance and
risk assessment procedures of an ASX listed entity. The corporate governance of the company is
examined in context of the ASX corporate governance principles (CGC) and the risk assessment
procedures are analyzed to identify the audit risk as per ASA 520. In this context, the business
entity selected is Woolworths Group Limited, a recognized supermarket retailing giant of
Australia. It has been illustrated after the evaluation that the company effectively follows the
ASX CGC principles and also has adopted adequate risk assessment procedures for effective
control and mitigation of the audit risk.
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Contents
ASX Corporate Governance Principles.........................................................................................................4
Developing Effective Management & Oversight......................................................................................4
Board Structuring To Add Value..............................................................................................................4
Ethical and Responsible Way of Acting....................................................................................................5
Ensuring Integrity in Corporate Reporting...............................................................................................5
Timely and Balanced Disclosure..............................................................................................................5
Respecting Rights of Security Holders.....................................................................................................6
Recognition and Management of Risk.....................................................................................................6
Fair and Responsible Remuneration........................................................................................................7
Risk Assessment of the Woolworth for the Audit Purpose..........................................................................7
Nature of company..................................................................................................................................7
Market Overview.....................................................................................................................................8
Business Strategy.....................................................................................................................................8
Measuring the financial performance of the Woolworth using the income and balance sheet ratios....8
Audit risk that have been found in the financial statement of the Woolworth and has impact of the
materiality of the financial statements....................................................................................................9
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................10
References.................................................................................................................................................11
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ASX Corporate Governance Principles
Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has established standard state of principle and
guidelines for business entities operating with Australia regarding the adoption and
implementation of an effective corporate governance framework. As such, the analysis of the
compliance of Woolworths, an ASX listed corporation as per its standard corporate governance
procedures is carried out as follows:
Developing Effective Management & Oversight
Woolworths as per this ASX principle has effectively established and disclose the
respective roles and responsibilities of the board and management. The corporate governance
statement of the company has established that the major role of Board is to protect the interests
of shareholders and enhance their value. The responsibilities of the Board include strategic
planning, financial oversight, financial reporting, selection of business leaders, development of
effective corporate governance rules and risk management and remuneration committees. The
CEO is accountable to the Board and in support of senior management should report to the Board
about the daily management and operations of the company. Also, the company has established
an effective framework for monitoring and evaluation of the performance of Board and
management ASX Corporate Governance Council, 2014). The evaluation of the performance of
Board and its associated committed is carried out on an annual basis in which the performance of
each director is assessed through an annual performance evaluation process. The feedback is
taken from all the directors and senior management for completing the performance evaluation
process of each director. The People Performance Committee is established by the Board for
performance evaluation of CEO and other group executive committee members and reporting to
the Board ASX Corporate Governance Council, 2014).
Board Structuring To Add Value
ASX listed entities need to develop an effective composition of Board having adequate
skills, size and competencies so that it can meet its roles and responsibilities appropriately. Board
of the company has maintained diverse range of skills, backgrounds and experiences among its
directors to ensure a rationale decision-making ASX Corporate Governance Council, 2014). It is
also committed to enhance diversity within the board composition having both men and women
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working as executive and non-executive directors. The key skills set and experience maintained
by Woolworths ensures the achievement of its strategic goals and priorities ASX Corporate
Governance Council, 2014).
Ethical and Responsible Way of Acting
The Code of Conduct established by Woolworths has ensured that all directors,
employees and managers carry out their roles and responsibility as per the ethical procedures and
practices. The standards are developed as per the ethical principles of honesty, integrity and fair
dealing to ensure that all business procedures are carried out in an ethical manner. In addition to
this, the company has also undertaken different programs for restricting the occurrence of
unethical practices (Fleckner and Hopt, 2013). The Corporate Responsibility Strategy of the
company has defined the commitment of the company for acting responsibly towards customers,
communities, people and environment. It is also emphasizing on attracting and retaining a
competent workforce having a positive customer focus to provide a safe and engaging working
environment ASX Corporate Governance Council, 2014).
Ensuring Integrity in Corporate Reporting
ASX listed entities need to have a rigid process for verifying and safeguarding the
integrity of corporate reporting as per its CGC principles. The Board of Directors is responsible
for approving, monitoring and review the management process involved in development and
presentation of financial statements. This is done to ensure the integrity in financial reporting.
Also, the company continually discloses its financial information to provide the shareholders
timely and accurate information. This is done to promote the confidence and trust of investors
about the integrity of its financial reporting process ASX Corporate Governance Council, 2014).
Timely and Balanced Disclosure
The business companies should make timely and balanced disclosure of all the matters
having a material effect on the securities price. As such, Woolworths have adopted a policy of
continuous disclosure to ensure that end-users are bale to access timely and relevant information
supporting their decision-making process. The policy aims to effectively comply with all the
regulatory compliance, assess the accountability of Board and senior executives and improving
the trust of investors in the reliability and accuracy of the financial information. The company
aims to make balanced disclosure of its financial and non-financial information in the annual and
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sustainability report developed on yearly basis so that stakeholders gain access to all the required
information for making effective decisions (Plessis, McConvill and Bagaric, 2005).
Respecting Rights of Security Holders
Woolworths as per the ASX principle of providing right to security holders through
disseminating them adequate information has effectively disclosed the policies of shareholder
engagement undertaken in its corporate governance statement. The shareholders are provided all
the required information of the material matters impacting the company performance by ASX
announcements, periodic communications and also through the use of variety of forums and
publications. The company website also has presence of shareholder communication policy that
provides a range of information relevant to shareholders such as update off share process,
dividend policy, published reports, and details of meeting held with shareholders and other
material announcements. It has also developed an effective investor relation programs that are
specifically designed for facilitating communication with the shareholders (Bazley, Hancock and
Robinson, 2014). The specific activities included within the program aims at conducting Annual
General Meeting and releasing annual report that discloses half and full-year financial results
ASX Corporate Governance Council, 2014).
Recognition and Management of Risk
Woolworth has also established a sound and effective risk management framework for
periodically reviewing the effectiveness of the framework. The Group carries out complex
business activities and therefore is exposed to different type of strategic, financial, operational
and compliance risks. The risk is inherent within the operational activities of the company and
therefore it is essential for development of an effective plan to reduce the possibility of
occurrence of such risks. The company has developed an effective risk management framework
for managing the material risks as per the standard regulations and guidelines. The framework
designed has distinctly categorized the role and responsibilities of different levels of
management to identify, evaluate control and mitigate the risks. As per the company’s corporate
governance statement, it has also obtained assurance about the accuracy of its financial
information through carrying out internal and external audit. It assures that all type of
materialistic risk are mitigated and controlled by the company effectively (ASX Corporate
Governance Council, 2014).
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Fair and Responsible Remuneration
Board has developed remuneration committee for deciding over the matters related to
remuneration offered to its senior executive people. The board reviews the performance of the
Key Management Personnel (KMP) and approving the remuneration to the CEO and other group
executive members. Thus, remuneration matters are decided by the board in association with the
CEO and the executive members ensuring that the process is fair and just (Woolworths Group,
2017).
Risk Assessment of the Woolworth for the Audit Purpose
In order to ensure that there is no material risk present in the company it is essential to
carry out the risk assessment procedure. The risk assessment procedure is followed to provide a
basis in relation to identification and assessment of risks of material misstatement that are
present in the financial statement and other assertion levels. It is also that risk assessment
procedure that are auditor themselves, do not provide appropriate evidences on which audit
opinion can be provided. There are three main procedures that are carried under the risk
assessment procedures, they are inquires from the management, analytical procedures and
observations and inspection (Auditing and Assurance Standards Board, 2009). The risk
assessment procedure is provided in the International Standard on Auditing 315 and this process
is conducted to ensure that any information provided to the auditor either material or non
material is free from errors and any material misstatement. This section of the report discusses
risk assessment procedures that are essential to analyse the risks that are presented in financial
statement and other data given to the auditor. In this section analytical procedures that are
defined in the Auditing Standard ASA 520 are performed in context to Woolworth Company.
The analytical procedures includes identification of nature of company, market overview,
reviewing business strategy and analyzing financial performance to give comment on the
inherent audit risk present in the financial statements of the company (O'Donnell and Perkins,
2011).
Nature of company
Woolworth is the famous retail brand that operates in Australia and it is involved in retail
sale of consumer goods at very large level. The retail operations of Woolworth includes sales at
different segment of retail business such as supermarket, petrol, liquor, home improvement,
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hotels, and other retail services. The main mission of the company is to provide high quality
products and services to their valuable customer in very reasonable price (Woolworths Group,
2018).
Market Overview
Woolworth mainly operates in Australia and covers all the major areas of Australia. It has
acquires some subsidiaries that have businesses in both Australia and outside Australia. The
retail market in Australia has potential to give company desirable amount of revenue and also
have high growth rate. Woolworth almost covers the half of the retail market of Australia and it
ranked amount top retail brand in the Australia (Strategy and objectives, 2018).
Business Strategy
The Woolworth Company has developed and implemented the business strategy that
helps to develop its business through applying the principles of integrity. The business strategy
that has been developed by the management helps to increase the shareholders value up to
maximum standards. The main motive is to deliver the best quality product to the customer that
has best value, highest quality and as per the needs of the customer. It can be said that business
strategy of the company is in line with the business needs and vision. There is no point
mentioned in the business strategy that proves that company is following any unfair practices
that leads to undue losses to the shareholders of the company (Strategy and objectives, 2018).
Measuring the financial performance of the Woolworth using the income and
balance sheet ratios
Evaluating the financial performance of the company using the comparative analyse and
applying other financial method is the most important part of the analytical procedures as
mentioned in the audit standard (Putra, 2010). In light of the audit standard the comparative
analysis of the Woolworth through using the income and balance sheet ratio:
Income Statement ratio: The ratios that are computed using the financial items of the income
statement. Some of the important ratios of the income statement are gross profit ratio and net
profit ratio.
Gross profit margin: Gross profit /Net Sales Net profit margin = Net Profit/Net Sales
Gross Profit (2017) = 15929 AUD million Net Profit (2017) = 1534 AUD million
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Net Sales (2017) = 55669 AUD million Net Sales (2017) = 55669 AUD million
Gross profit margin Ratio = =28.61% Net profit margin Ratio = 2.75%
Balance Sheet Ratios: The balance sheet ratio represents ratios that are calculated using the
financial items of the balance sheet. Some of the important balance sheet ratios are as follows:
Current Ratio: Current Assets/Current
Liabilities Debt Equity Ratio = Debt/Equity
Current Assets (2017) = 6,994 AUD million Debt (2017) = 13040 AUD million
Current liabilities (2017) = 8,824 AUD million Equity (2017) = 9526 AUD million
Current Ratio (2017) = 0.79 times Debt Equity Ratio (2017) = 1.37 times
(Woolworths Group: Annual Report, 2017).
Audit risk that have been found in the financial statement of the Woolworth
and has impact of the materiality of the financial statements
Some of the important risks that have been identified in the financial statement of the
Woolworth and have impact on the audit procedure are as follows:
 Market risk: Market risks refer to the risks that can arise due to movement in the price of
the foreign currency and it is important because Woolworth has business outside
Australia. Market risk can impact the materiality of financial statement as it is not
feasible to report each and every change in the financial report of the company. It is very
hard to carry out the audit procedure for the transaction that is carried out of the country.
Therefore there are many audit risk associated with the transactions of foreign country.
Market risk can be managed through applying various financial control techniques and
use of appropriate combination between the fix and floating interest rate with the use of
swap contract options.
 Credit Risk: Audit risk can arise when company has been default in meeting the
obligations and results will the financial loss to the company. So it is important that
auditors must overview the liquidity position of the company very carefully in order
check whether company has sufficient liquidity to meet the obligations. There are various
ways to reduce the credit risks such as checking the creditability and liquidity position of
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the company time to time in order to avoid the shortage of funds (Woolworths Group:
Annual Report, 2017).
Conclusion
The report concludes that ASX principles have lead to the strengthening of the corporate
governance framework within the Australian business entities. Also, the development of ASA 50
have enabled to the establishment of analytic procedures for assessing and mitigating the audit
risk of a business entity.
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References
ASX Corporate Governance Council. (2014). Retrieved 24 April, 2018, from
https://www.asx.com.au/documents/asx-compliance/cgc-principles-and-
recommendations-3rd-edn.pdf
Auditing and Assurance Standards Board. (2009). Auditing Standard ASA 520 Analytical
Procedures. Retrieved 24 April, 2018, from
http://www.auasb.gov.au/admin/file/content102/c3/ASA_520_27-10-09.pdf
Bazley, M., Hancock, P. and Robinson, P. (2014). Contemporary Accounting PDF. Cengage
Learning Australia.
Fleckner, A. and Hopt, K. (2013). Comparative Corporate Governance: A Functional and
International Analysis. Cambridge University Press.
O'Donnell, Ed & Perkins, D. (2011). Assessing Risk with Analytical Procedures: Do
Systems-Thinking Tools Help Auditors Focus on Diagnostic Patterns? Auditing;
Sarasota 30 (4), pp. 273-283.
Plessis, J., McConvill, J. and Bagaric, M. (2005). Principles of Contemporary Corporate
Governance. Cambridge University Press.
Putra, L. (2010). The Use Of Analytical Procedures In Auditing. Retrieved 24 April, 2018, from
http://accounting-financial-tax.com/2010/04/the-use-of-analytical-procedures-in-auditing/
Strategy and objectives. (2018). Woolworths Group. Retrieved 24 April, 2018, from
https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/page/about-us/our-approach/strategy-and-
objectives Woolworths Group. (2017). Annual Report. Retrieved 24 April, 2018, from
https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/icms_docs/188795_annual-report-2017.pdf
Woolworths Group. (2017). Corporate Governance. Retrieved 24 April, 2018, from
https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/content/Document/Woolworths%20Group
%202017%20-%20Corporate%20Governance%20Statement.pdf
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