Audit of successive mergers and partial contributions of assets
Background and objectives mission
An international group specializing in digital transformation for businesses, for which we are statutory auditors, acquired a smaller group in order to pursue its growth in France and abroad and develop new areas of expertise. Following the acquisition of this group, legally made up of several entities in France and abroad, our client carried out a series of transactions involving the universal transfer of assets and partial contributions of assets, in order to simplify its new legal structure and meet its new strategic, financial, organizational and tax objectives.
approach adopted
A number of discussions were held with our client and our joint statutory auditor during the year, and in particular prior to the completion of the planned legal transactions, in order to master all the ins and outs from an accounting, legal and tax point of view. The risks that could be encountered were thus anticipated, and we set up a specific audit approach for each of the various legal transactions, for our audit of the parent company financial statements of Group entities, as well as for our audit of the Group's consolidated financial statements.
Benefits obtained
Our knowledge of the situation prior to the planned transactions enabled us to carry out an in-depth diagnosis and make recommendations to our client. These recommendations enabled our client to optimize certain operations, to be aware of certain options that could be taken, to set up an appropriate accounts closing schedule and to meet the deadlines for finalizing the annual and consolidated accounts. This proactive approach enabled us to carry out our audit work in a staggered manner, to report any anomalies detected as and when they arose, and to keep to the agreed timetable.