Unilever 2006 Annual Report Download - page 71

68 Unilever Annual Report and Accounts 2006
Financial Statements (continued)
Auditor’s report Netherlands
Independent auditor’s report to the shareholders
of Unilever N.V.
Report on the consolidated accounts
We have audited the consolidated accounts of the Unilever
Group for the year ended 31 December 2006 which comprise
the consolidated income statement, consolidated balance sheet,
consolidated cash flow statement, consolidated statement of
recognised income and expense and the related notes on pages
70 to 123 and 129 to 130. These consolidated accounts have
been prepared under the accounting policies set out in note 1
on pages 74 to 78.
We have reported separately on the company accounts of
Unilever N.V. for the year ended 31 December 2006.
Directors’ responsibility
The Directors are responsible for the preparation and fair
presentation of the consolidated accounts in accordance with
International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the
European Union and with Part 9 of Book 2 of the Netherlands
Civil Code, and for the preparation of the Report of the Directors
in accordance with Part 9 of Book 2 of the Netherlands Civil
Code. This responsibility includes: designing, implementing and
maintaining internal control relevant to the preparation and fair
presentation of the consolidated accounts that are free from
material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error; selecting
and applying appropriate accounting policies; and making
accounting estimates that are reasonable in the circumstances.
Auditor’sresponsibility
Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the consolidated
accounts based on our audit. We conducted our audit in
accordance with Dutch law.This law requires that we comply
with ethical requirements and plan and perform the audit to
obtain reasonable assurance whether the consolidated accounts
are free from material misstatement.
An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence
about the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated accounts.
The procedures selected depend on the auditor’s judgement,
including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement
of the consolidated accounts, whether due to fraud or error. In
making those risk assessments, the auditor considers internal
control relevant to the entity’s preparation and fair presentation
of the consolidated accounts 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 entity’s
internal control. An audit also includes evaluating the
appropriateness of accounting policies used and the
reasonableness of accounting estimates made by the Directors,
as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated
accounts.
We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient
and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion.
Opinion
In our opinion, the consolidated accounts give a true and
fair view of the financial position of the Unilever Group as at
31 December 2006, and of its result and its cash flows for the
year then ended in accordance with International Financial
Reporting Standards as adopted by the European Union and
with Part 9 of Book 2 of the Netherlands Civil Code.
Report on other legal and regulatory requirements
Pursuant to the legal requirement under 2:393 sub 5 part e
of the Netherlands Civil Code, we report, to the extent of our
competence, that the Report of the Directors is consistent with
the consolidated accounts as required by 2:391 sub 4 of the
Netherlands Civil Code.
Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 6 March 2007
PricewaterhouseCoopers Accountants N.V.
Prof Dr J A van Manen RA