Many corporates are now initiating or concluding their financial year 2019 audits. The exhaustive process will include requests to internal stakeholders and key external advisers to formally declare their knowledge of any claims or liabilities as at year end.

The balance sheet position must necessarily be obtained but one area of extant liability is seemingly often overlooked because of its arcane nature. Software licensing is often assumed to be a non-issue.

The liability for software licences usually only becomes an issue when a demand for a software license review arises, or the Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) invites a settlement.