Aviva 2007 Annual Report Download - page 115
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Please find page 115 of the 2007 Aviva annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.Aviva plc
Annual Report and
Accounts 2007
111
Governance
We have audited the Group and parent company financial
statements (the “financial statements”) of Aviva plc for the
year ended 31 December 2007 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 balance sheets, 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 cash flow statements
and the related notes 1 to 59 and A to I. 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 the information and explanations we require for
our 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 2006 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.
We read 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
are appropriate to the Group’s and Company’s circumstances,
consistently applied and adequately disclosed.
We planned 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 and the parent
company's affairs as at 31 December 2007 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, as regards the Group financial statements, Article 4
of the IAS Regulation; and
– The information given in the Directors’ report is
consistent with the financial statements.
Separate opinion in relation to IFRSs
As explained in the Accounting Policies to the Group
financial statements, the Group, in addition to complying
with its legal obligation to comply with IFRSs as adopted
by the European Union, has also complied with the IFRSs
as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board.
In our opinion the Group financial statements give a true
and fair view, in accordance with IFRSs, of the state of the
Group’s affairs as at 31 December 2007 and of its profit
for the year then ended.
Ernst & Young LLP
Registered Auditor
London
27 February 2008
Independent auditor’s report to the
shareholders of Aviva plc