LINDE PLC
For the period ended Dec 31, 2024. Filed Feb 26, 2025.
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FY2024 · Filed Feb 26, 2025
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Item 8. Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Board of Directors and Shareholders of Linde plc
Opinions on the Financial Statements and Internal Control over Financial Reporting
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Linde plc and its subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, and the related consolidated statements of income, of comprehensive income, of equity and of cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2024, including the related notes (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). We also have audited the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2024, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).
In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2024 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2024, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the COSO.
Basis for Opinions
The Company's management is responsible for these consolidated financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express opinions on the Company’s consolidated financial statements and on the Company's internal control over financial reporting based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company 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 audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud, and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.
Our audits of the consolidated financial statements included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated 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 consolidated 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 consolidated financial statements. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.
Definition and Limitations of Internal Control over Financial Reporting
A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (iii) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
Critical Audit Matters
The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current period audit of the consolidated financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that (i) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the consolidated financial statements and (ii) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidated 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.
Revenue Recognition - Estimated Costs at Completion
As described in Note 19 to the consolidated financial statements, $2,322 million of the Company’s total revenues for the year ended December 31, 2024 was generated from sale of equipment contracts. Sales of equipment contracts are generally comprised of a single performance obligation. Revenue from sale of equipment is generally recognized over time as the Company has an enforceable right to payment for performance completed to date and performance does not create an asset with alternative use. For contracts recognized over time, revenue is recognized primarily using a cost incurred input method. Costs incurred to date relative to total estimated costs at completion are used to measure progress toward satisfying performance obligations. Costs incurred include material, labor, and overhead costs and represent work contributing and proportionate to the transfer of control to the customer. Changes to cost estimates and contract modifications are typically accounted for as part of the existing contract and are recognized as cumulative adjustments for the inception-to-date effect of such change.
The principal considerations for our determination that performing procedures relating to revenue recognition - estimated costs at completion is a critical audit matter are (i) the significant judgment by management when developing the estimated costs at completion for sale of equipment contracts; (ii) a high degree of auditor judgment, subjectivity, and effort in performing procedures and evaluating audit evidence related to the estimated costs at completion and management’s significant assumptions related to the total estimated material and labor costs; and (iii) the audit effort involved the use of professionals with specialized skill and knowledge.
Addressing the matter involved performing procedures and evaluating audit evidence in connection with forming our overall opinion on the consolidated financial statements. These procedures included testing the effectiveness of controls relating to the revenue recognition process, including controls over developing the estimated costs at completion for sale of equipment contracts. These procedures also included, among others, evaluating and testing management’s process for developing the estimated costs at completion for sale of equipment contracts, which included evaluating the reasonableness of management’s significant assumptions related to the total estimated material and labor costs. Evaluating the reasonableness of management’s significant assumptions involved evaluating management’s ability to reasonably estimate costs at completion for sale of equipment contracts on a sample basis by (i) performing a comparison of the originally estimated and actual costs incurred on similar completed equipment contracts, and (ii) evaluating the timely identification of circumstances that may warrant a modification to estimated costs at completion, including actual costs in excess of estimates. Professionals with specialized skill and knowledge were used to assist in evaluating the reasonableness of management’s estimates and significant assumptions related to the total estimated material and labor costs.
/s/PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Stamford, Connecticut
February 26, 2025
We have served as the Company’s or its predecessor’s auditor since 1992.
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