Vodafone 2001 Annual Report Download - page 15

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Vodafone Group Plc
Annual Report & Accounts
for the year ended
31 March 2001
13
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE continued
Monitoring and Review Activities
There are clear processes for monitoring the system of internal control and reporting any significant control failings or weaknesses together with
details of corrective action.
A formal annual confirmation is provided by the chief executive officer and chief financial officer of each Group company detailing the operation
of their control systems and highlighting any weaknesses. Regional management, the Audit Committee and the Board review the results of this
confirmation.
A Group Internal Audit Department, reporting directly to the Audit Committee, undertakes periodic examination of business processes on a risk
basis and reports on controls throughout the Group.
Reports from the external auditors, Deloitte & Touche, on certain internal controls and relevant financial reporting matters are presented to the
Audit Committee and management.
Review of Effectiveness
The directors believe that the Group’s system of internal control provides reasonable but not absolute assurance that problems are identified on a
timely basis and dealt with appropriately.
The directors confirm that they have reviewed the effectiveness of the system of internal control through the monitoring process set out above
and are not aware of any significant weakness or deficiency in the Group’s system of internal control for the year under review and to the date of
approval of the annual report and accounts.
Relation s with shareh olders
The Company holds briefing meetings with its major institutional shareholders in the UK, the US and in Continental Europe, usually twice each
year after the interim and preliminary final results’ announcements, to ensure that the investing community receives a balanced and complete
view of the Group’s performance and the issues faced by the business. Telecommunications analysts of stockbrokers are also invited to
presentations of the financial results and to visit the Company in the summer months for discussions on matters relating to the Group’s
operations. The Company, through its Investor Relations team, responds to enquiries from institutional shareholders.
The principal communication with private investors is through the provision of the Annual Review & Summary Financial Statement, the Interim
Statement and the Annual General Meeting, an occasion which generally is attended by all the Company’s directors and at which all shareholders
are given the opportunity to question the Chairman and the Board as well as the Chairmen of the Audit, Remuneration and Nomination
Committees. The proxy votes cast in relation to all the resolutions proposed at the 2000 Annual General Meeting were disclosed to those in
attendance at the meeting and the Company will follow this policy at future meetings. The results of voting on resolutions conducted on a poll are
published in newspapers in the UK and the US.
Financial and other information is made available on the Company’s Internet web site, which is regularly updated.