Aviva 2006 Annual Report Download - page 105

Overview Business review Governance Financial statements Other information
Aviva plc
Annual Report and Accounts 2006 101
Independent auditor’s report to the shareholders of Aviva plc
Wehave audited the group and parent company financial
statements (the “financial statements”) of Aviva plc for the year
ended 31 December 2006 which comprise the Accounting Policies,
the Consolidated and Parent Company Income Statements, the pro
forma reconciliation of Group operating profit to profit before tax,
the Consolidated and Parent Company Statement of recognised
income and expense, the Consolidated and Parent Company
Reconciliation of movements in shareholders’ equity, the
Consolidated and Parent Company Balance Sheets, the
Consolidated and Parent company cash flow Statements and
the related notes 1 to 53 and A to J. We have also audited the
information in the Directors’ Remuneration Report that is
described as having been audited.
This report is made solely to the Company’s members, as a body,
in accordance with Section 235 of the Companies Act 1985.
Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the
Company's members those matters we are required to state to
them in an auditors’ report and for no other purpose. To the fullest
extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility
to anyone other than the Company and the Company’s members
as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we
have formed.
Respective responsibilities of directors and auditors
The directors’ responsibilities for preparing the Annual Report, the
Directors’ Remuneration Report and the financial statements in
accordance with applicable United Kingdom law and International
Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) as adopted by the European
Union are set out in the Statement of Directors’ Responsibilities.
Our responsibility is to audit the financial statements and the part
of the Directors’ Remuneration Report to be audited in accordance
with relevant legal and regulatory requirements and International
Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland).
We report to you our opinion as to whether the financial
statements give a true and fair view and whether the financial
statements and the part of the Directors’ Remuneration Report to
be audited have been properly prepared in accordance with the
Companies Act 1985 and, as regards the Group financial
statements, Article 4 of the IAS Regulation. We also report to you
whether in our opinion, the information given in the Directors’
Report is consistent with the financial statements. The information
given in the Directors’ report includes that specific information
presented in the Business review that is cross referred from the
Directors’ report.
In addition we report to you if, in our opinion, the Company has
not kept proper accounting records, if we have not received all
information and explanations we require for audit, or if information
specified by law regarding directors’ remuneration and other
transactions is not disclosed.
We review whether the Corporate Governance Statement reflects
the Company’s compliance with the nine provisions of the 2003
Combined Code specified for our review by the Listing Rules of
the Financial Services Authority, and we report if it does not.
We are not required to consider whether the Board’s statements
on internal control cover all risks and controls, or form an opinion
on the effectiveness of the Group’s corporate governance
procedures or its risk and control procedures.
Weread other information contained in the Annual Report and
consider whether it is consistent with the audited financial
statements. The other information comprises only the Overview,
the Business review, the Board of Directors, the Directors’ report,
the Corporate governance report, the Audit Committee report,
the Nomination Committee report, the Risk and Regulatory
Committee report, the Corporate Social Responsibility committee
and the unaudited part of the Directors’ Remuneration Report.
We consider the implications for our report if we become aware of
any apparent misstatements or material inconsistencies with the
financial statements. Our responsibilities do not extend to any
other information.
Basis of audit opinion
We conducted our audit in accordance with International
Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland) issued by the Auditing
Practices Board. An audit includes examination, on a test basis, of
evidence relevant to the amounts and disclosures in the financial
statements and the part of the Directors’ Remuneration Report to
be audited. It also includes an assessment of the significant
estimates and judgements made by the directors in the preparation
of the financial statements, and of whether the accounting policies
areappropriate to the Group’sand Company’scircumstances,
consistently applied and adequately disclosed.
Weplanned and performed our audit so as to obtain all the
information and explanations which we considered necessary in
order to provide us with sufficient evidence to give reasonable
assurance that the financial statements and the part of the
Directors’ Remuneration Report to be audited are free from
material misstatement, whether caused by fraud or other
irregularity or error. In forming our opinion we also evaluated the
overall adequacy of the presentation of information in the financial
statements and the part of the Directors’ Remuneration Report
to be audited.
Opinion
In our opinion:
–The financial statements give a true and fair view, in accordance
with IFRSs as adopted by the European Union, of the state of
the Group’s affairs and the parent Company’s affairs as at
31 December 2006 and of the Group’s profit and the parent
company’s loss for the year then ended;
–The financial statements and the part of the Directors’
Remuneration Report to be audited have been properly prepared
in accordance with the Companies Act 1985 and Article 4 of the
IAS Regulation; and
– The information given in the Directors’ report is consistent with
the financial statements.
Ernst & Young LLP
Registered Auditor
London
28 February 2007