Unilever 2014 Annual Report Download - page 99

Ths page sets out the responsbltes of KPM Accountant NV
as referred to n the audt opnon on pages 79 to 83
OUR RESPONSIBILITIES FOR THE AUDIT OF THE
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Our obectve s to plan and perform the audt assgnment
n a manner that allows us to obtan suffcent and approprate
audt evdence for our opnon
Our audt has been performed wth a hgh, but not absolute,
level of assurance, whch means we may not have detected
all errors and fraud
We have exercsed professonal udgement and have mantaned
professonal skeptcsm throughout the audt, n accordance wth
Dutch Standards on Audtng, ethcal requrements and
ndependence requrements
Our audt ncluded eg
• Identfyng and assessng the rsks of materal msstatement
of the fnancal statements, whether due to fraud or error,
desgnng and performng audt procedures responsve to
those rsks, and obtanng audt evdence that s suffcent and
approprate to provde a bass for our opnon The rsk of not
detectng a materal msstatement resultng from fraud s
hgher than for one resultng from error, as fraud may nvolve
colluson, forgery, ntentonal omssons, msrepresentatons,
or the overrde of nternal control
• Obtanng an understandng of nternal control relevant to the
audt n order to desgn audt procedures that are approprate
n the crcumstances, but not for the purpose of expressng an
opnon on the effectveness of the company’s nternal control
• Evaluatng the approprateness of accountng polces used
and the reasonableness of accountng estmates and related
dsclosures made by management
• oncludng on the approprateness of management’s use of
the gong concern bass of accountng, and based on the audt
evdence obtaned, whether a materal uncertanty exsts
related to events or condtons that may cast sgnfcant doubt
on the company’s ablty to contnue as a gong concern If we
conclude that a materal uncertanty exsts, we are requred
to draw attenton n our audtor’s report to the related
dsclosures n the fnancal statements or, f such dsclosures
are nadequate, to modfy our opnon Our conclusons are
based on the audt evdence obtaned up to the date of our
audtor’s report However, future events or condtons may
cause the company to cease to contnue as a gong concern
• Evaluatng the overall presentaton, structure and content
of the fnancal statements, ncludng the dsclosures and
• Evaluatng whether the fnancal statements represent the
underlyng transactons and events n a manner that acheves
far presentaton
We communcate wth the Audt ommttee regardng, among
other matters, the planned scope and tmng of the audt and
sgnfcant audt fndngs, ncludng any sgnfcant fndngs n
nternal control that we dentfy durng our audt
We provde the Audt ommttee wth a statement that we
have compled wth relevant ethcal requrements regardng
ndependence, and to communcate wth them all relatonshps
and other matters that may reasonably be thought to bear on
our ndependence, and where applcable, related safeguards
From the matters communcated wth the Audt ommttee, we
determne those matters that were of most sgnfcance n the audt
of the fnancal statements of the current perod and are therefore
the key audt matters We descrbe these matters n our audtor’s
report unless law or regulaton precludes publc dsclosure about
the matter or when, n extremely rare crcumstances, not
communcatng the matter s n the publc nterest
136 Unilever Annual Report and Accounts 2014Financial statements
RESPONSIBILITIES OF KPM AOUNTANTS NV