factual

What is the auditor's responsibility regarding the Aplus Partnership's financial statements?

Aplus Franchise · 2024 FDD

Answer from 2024 FDD Document

t Reporting | F-28 | | 20. Net Income per Common Unit | F-30 |

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

Board of Directors of Sunoco GP LLC and Unitholders of Sunoco LP

Opinion on the financial statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Sunoco LP (a Delaware limited partnership) and subsidiaries (the "Partnership") as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, the related consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income, equity, and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2023, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the "financial statements"). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Partnership as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2023, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) ("PCAOB"), the Partnership's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023, based on criteria established in the 2013 Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission ("COSO"), and our report dated February 16, 2024 expressed an unqualified opinion.

Basis for opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Partnership's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Partnership's financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Partnership in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Critical audit matter

The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current period audit of the financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matter below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosures to which it relates.

Fair value of property and equipment acquired in the Zenith Energy acquisition

As described further in Note 3 to the consolidated financial statements, the Partnership acquired 16 refined product terminals on May 1, 2023, from Zenith Energy for approximately $111 million. The Partnership utilized a third-party valuation specialist to estimate the fair value of the acquired property and equipment, which was determined to be $110 million. We identified the estimation of the fair value of the acquired property and equipment as a critical audit matter.

The principal consideration for our determination that the estimation of the fair value of the acquired property and equipment is a critical audit matter is that there was estimation uncertainty due to significant judgments with respect to the valuation methodologies and assumptions applied by the third-party valuation specialist, including the market and cost approaches. This in turn led to a high degree of auditor judgment and subjectivity in performing procedures and evaluating audit evidence related to management's assumptions. In addition, the audit effort involved the use of internal specialists to assist in performing these procedures and evaluating the audit evidence.

Our audit procedures related to the estimation of the fair value of the acquired property and equipment included the following procedures, among others. We tested the effectiveness of controls relating to management's review of the valuation methodologies and assumptions applied by the third-party valuation specialist.

Source: Item 22 — CONTRACTS (FDD page 68)

What This Means (2024 FDD)

According to Aplus's 2024 Franchise Disclosure Document, the auditor, Grant Thornton LLP, has several responsibilities regarding the financial statements of Sunoco LP (the Partnership). The auditor's primary duty is to express an opinion on whether the financial statements present fairly the financial position, results of operations, and cash flows of the Partnership as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. This opinion is based on audits conducted in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). The auditor's report is dated February 16, 2024. Grant Thornton LLP has served as the Partnership's auditor since 2015.

The auditor's responsibilities include planning and performing the audit to obtain reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. This involves assessing the risks of material misstatement, performing procedures to respond to those risks, examining evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements on a test basis, evaluating the accounting principles used, assessing significant estimates made by management, and evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. The auditor also audited the Partnership's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023, based on criteria established in the 2013 Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”), and expressed an unqualified opinion.

One critical audit matter identified was the fair value of property and equipment acquired in the Zenith Energy acquisition, where the Partnership acquired 16 refined product terminals on May 1, 2023, for approximately $111 million and utilized a third-party valuation specialist to estimate the fair value of the acquired property and equipment, which was determined to be $110 million. The auditor's procedures related to this estimation included testing the effectiveness of controls relating to management's review of the valuation methodologies and assumptions applied by the third-party valuation specialist, utilizing an internal valuation specialist to evaluate the qualifications of the third-party valuation specialist, the process used by management to develop the estimate, the useful lives utilized by the third-party valuation specialist, and the appropriateness of the replacement cost and estimates of fair values for assets.

Disclaimer: This information is extracted from the 2024 Franchise Disclosure Document and is provided for research purposes only. It does not constitute legal or financial advice. Consult with a franchise attorney before making any investment decisions.