When auditing Floors To Go, is an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit?
Floors_To_Go Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditors' report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not absolute assurance and therefore is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control. Misstatements are considered material if there is a substantial likelihood that, individually or in the aggregate, they would influence the judgment made by a reasonable user based on the financial statements.
In performing an audit in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards, we:
- Exercise professional judgment and maintain professional skepticism throughout the audit.
- Identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error, and design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks. Such procedures include examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements.
- Obtain an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company's internal control. Accordingly, no such opinion is expressed.
- Evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of significant accounting estimates made by management, as well as evaluate the overall presentation of the financial statements.
- Conclude whether, in our judgment, there are conditions or events, considered in the aggregate, that raise substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern for a reasonable period of time.
We are required to communicate with those charged with governance regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit, significant audit findings, and certain internal control related matters that we identified during the audit.
Source: Item 23 — RECEIPTS (FDD pages 47–204)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to the 2025 Floors To Go Franchise Disclosure Document, an understanding of internal control is relevant to the audit of the company's financial statements. The auditor's responsibilities include obtaining an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances. However, the auditors are not expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the company's internal control.
Management of Floors To Go is responsible for the design, implementation, and maintenance of internal control relevant to the preparation and fair presentation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. The auditors' report also indicates that they are required to communicate with those charged with governance regarding significant audit findings and certain internal control related matters identified during the audit.
For a prospective Floors To Go franchisee, this means that the company's financial statements are audited with consideration given to internal controls, though the audit does not provide an opinion on the effectiveness of those controls. This is a standard practice in financial auditing, aiming to provide reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatement. Franchisees can have some confidence that the financial information they receive from Floors To Go has been vetted with consideration of internal controls, though it's not a guarantee of perfect accuracy or effectiveness of those controls.