BT 2005 Annual Report Download - page 71

United Kingdom Opinion
Independent auditors’ report to the shareholders of BT Group plc
We have audited the financial statements which comprise the
group profit and loss account, group and company balance sheets,
group cash flow statement, group statement of total recognised
gains and losses and the related notes which have been prepared
under the historical cost convention and the accounting policies set
out in the Accounting Policies. We have also audited the
disclosures required by Part 3 of Schedule 7A to the Companies
Act 1985 contained in the directors’ remuneration report (‘‘the
audited part’’).
Respective responsibilities of directors and auditors
The directors’ responsibilities for preparing the annual report and the
financial statements in accordance with applicable United Kingdom
law and accounting standards are set out in the statement of
directors’ responsibilities. The directors are also responsible for
preparing the directors’ remuneration report.
Our responsibility is to audit the financial statements and the
audited part of the directors’ remuneration report in accordance
with relevant legal and regulatory requirements and United
Kingdom Auditing Standards issued by the Auditing Practices
Board. This report, including the opinion, has been prepared for
and only for the company’s members as a body in accordance with
Section 235 of the Companies Act 1985 and for no other purpose.
We do not, in giving this opinion, accept or assume responsibility
for any other purpose or to any other person to whom this report is
shown or into whose hands it may come save where expressly
agreed by our prior consent in writing.
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 audited part of the directors’ remuneration
report have been properly prepared in accordance with the
Companies Act 1985. We also report to you if, in our opinion, the
directors’ report is not consistent with the financial statements, if
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 transactions is not disclosed.
We read the other information contained in the Annual Report
and Form 20-F and consider the implications for our report if we
become aware of any apparent misstatements or material
inconsistencies with the financial statements. The other
information comprises only the Financial headlines, Chairman’s
message, Chief Executive’s statement, Operating and financial
review, Report of the directors, Corporate governance, the
unaudited part of the directors’ remuneration report and Risk
factors.
We review whether the corporate governance statement
reflects the company’s compliance with the nine provisions of the
2003 FRC 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 to
form an opinion on the effectiveness of the company’s or group’s
corporate governance procedures or its risk and control
procedures.
Basis of audit opinion
We conducted our audit in accordance with auditing standards
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 audited part of
the directors’ remuneration report. 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 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 audited part of the
directors’ remuneration report 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.
Opinion
In our opinion: the financial statements give a true and fair view of
the state of affairs of the company and the group at 31 March
2005 and of the profit and cash flows of the group for the year
then ended; the financial statements have been properly prepared
in accordance with the Companies Act 1985; and those parts of
the directors’ remuneration report required by Part 3 of Schedule
7A to the Companies Act 1985 have been properly prepared in
accordance with the Companies Act 1985.
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors
London
18 May 2005
United States Opinion
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm to the
board of directors and shareholders of BT Group plc
In our opinion, the accompanying group profit and loss account,
group balance sheet, group cash flow statement, group statement
of total recognised gains and losses and the related notes present
fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of BT Group
plc and its subsidiaries at 31 March 2005 and 2004, and the
results of their operations and their cash flows for each of the three
years in the period ended 31 March 2005, in conformity with
accounting principles generally accepted in the United Kingdom.
These financial statements are the responsibility of the group’s
management; our responsibility is to express an opinion on these
financial statements based on our audits. We conducted our audits
of these statements in accordance with the standards of the Public
Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those
standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain
reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are
free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a
test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the
financial statements, assessing the accounting principles used and
significant estimates made by management, and evaluating the
overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits
provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
Accounting principles generally accepted in the United
Kingdom vary in certain important respects from accounting
principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Information relating to the nature and effect of such differences is
presented in the United States Generally Accepted Accounting
Principles section.
As discussed in Note 1 to the financial statements the company
changed its method for accounting for the employee benefit trust
in 2005.
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors
London
18 May 2005
70 BT Group plc Annual Report and Form 20-F 2005
Report of the independent auditors