Page 255 - Annual Report 2020

10. Responsibilities of directors • We assessed the susceptibility of the Group’s financial statements
As explained more fully in the directors’ responsibilities statement set to material misstatement, including how fraud might occur by
out in section 5.4, the directors of the Group are responsible for the considering the risk of fraud through management override and,
preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that in response, incorporated data analytics across manual journal Strategic Report
they give a true and fair view in accordance with the relevant financial entries into our audit approach.
reporting frameworks, and for such internal control as the directors • Based on this understanding we designed our audit procedures
determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial to identify non-compliance with such laws and regulations.
statements that give a true and fair view and are free from material Our procedures involved journal entry testing, with a focus
misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. on journals meeting our defined risk criteria based on our
In preparing the financial statements, the directors are responsible understanding of the business; enquiries of the legal counsel,
external legal advisers, group management, internal audit and
for assessing the Group and Parent Company’s ability to continue all full and specific scope management; and review of Board and
as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going Risk and Audit Committee reporting.
concern and using the going concern basis of accounting, unless the
directors either intend to liquidate the Group or the Parent Company • We ensured our global audit team has deep industry experience
or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so. through working for many years on relevant audits, including Governance at BHP
experience of mining and oil and gas. Our audit planning included
11. Auditors’ responsibilities for the audits of the considering external market factors, for example geopolitical risk,
financial statements the potential impact of climate change, commodity price risk and
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the major trends in the industry.
financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, 12.2 Other matters
whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditors’ report that • We were appointed by the company on 7 November 2019 to audit
includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of the financial statements for the year ending 30 June 2020 and
assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in subsequent financial periods. The period of total uninterrupted
accordance with Australian Auditing Standards and ISAs (UK) will engagement including previous renewals and reappointments
always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements is one year as this is the first audit year.
can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually
or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence • The non-audit services prohibited by the FRC’s Ethical Standard Remuneration Report
the economic decisions of users taken on the basis were not provided to the Group or the Parent Company and
of these financial statements. we remain independent of the Group and the Parent Company
in conducting the audit.
A further description of EY Australia’s responsibilities for the audit • Our audit opinion is consistent with our report to the Risk and
of the Consolidated Financial Statements together with the Directors’ Audit Committee explaining the results of our audit.
Declaration is located at the Auditing and Assurance Standards Board
website at https://www.auasb.gov.au/admin/file/content102/c3/ 13. Use of EY’s reports
ar1_2020.pdf. This description forms part of EY Australia auditor’s report. EY Australia’s report is made solely to BHP Group Limited members,
A further description of EY UK’s responsibilities for the audit as a body, in accordance with the Australian Corporations Act 2001.
of the Consolidated Financial Statements and Parent Financial EY UK’s report is made solely to the BHP Group plc’s members, as a
Statements is provided on the UK FRC’s website at https://www.frc. body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the UK Companies Directors’ Report
org.uk/auditors/audit-assurance/auditor-s-responsibilities-for-the- Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state
audit-of-the-fi/description-of-the-auditor’s-responsibilities-for. This to the companies’ members those matters we are required to state
description forms part of EY UK auditor’s report. to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. Accordingly,
each of EY Australia and EY UK makes the following statement:
12. Other matters EY UK are required to address to the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume
In this section 12 ‘we’ and ‘our’ refer to EY UK only. responsibility to anyone other than the company and the company’s
12.1 Explanation as to what extent the audit was considered members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the
opinions we have formed.
capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud 5
The objectives of our audit, in respect to fraud, are; to identify and
assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements
due to fraud; to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence
regarding the assessed risks of material misstatement due to fraud,
through designing and implementing appropriate responses; and to
respond appropriately to fraud or suspected fraud identified during Financial Statements
the audit. However, the primary responsibility for the prevention and
detection of fraud rests with both those charged with governance Tim Wallace Gary Donald
of the entity and management. Partner Senior Statutory Auditor
Our approach was as follows: for and on behalf of
• We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory
frameworks that are applicable to the Group and determined that
the most significant are those that relate to the reporting framework
(including IFRSs as issued by the IASB, Australian Accounting Ernst & Young Ernst & Young LLP
Standards and IFRSs as adopted by the European Union, the Melbourne London Additional information
Australian Corporations Act 2001, UK Companies Act 2006, the 3 September 2020 3 September 2020
UK Corporate Governance Code, the US Securities Exchange Act In respect of BHP Group Limited In respect of BHP Group Plc
of 1934 and the Listing Rules of the UK Listing Authority) and the
relevant tax compliance regulations in the jurisdictions in which Ernst & Young, an Australian partnership and Ernst & Young LLP, a limited liability
BHP operates. In addition, we concluded that there are certain partnership registered in England and Wales, are member firms of Ernst & Young
significant laws and regulations that may have an effect on the Global Limited.
determination of the amounts and disclosures in the financial Ernst & Young Australia liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional
statements, mainly relating to health and safety, employee matters, Standards Legislation.
bribery and corruption practices, environmental and certain
aspects of company legislation recognising the regulated nature
of the Group’s mining activities and its legal form. Shareholder information
• We understood how BHP is complying with those frameworks
by making enquiries of management, internal audit, those
responsible for legal and compliance procedures and the Company
Secretary. We corroborated our enquiries through our review
of Board minutes, papers provided to the Group’s Risk and Audit
Committee and the Sustainability Committee and correspondence
received from regulatory bodies and noted that there was
no contradictory evidence.

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