BT 2016 Annual Report Download - page 216

222 BT Group plc
Annual Report 2016
Independent auditors’ report to the
members ofBT Group plc
Report on the company financial statements
Our opinion
In our opinion, BT Group plc’s company financial statements (the
financial statements).
• give a true and fair view of the state of the company’s affairs as at
31March 2016;
• have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom
Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
• have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the
Companies Act 2006.
What we have audited
BT Group plc’s financial statements comprise:
• the BT Group plc company balance sheet as at 31 March 2016;
• the BT Group plc company reconciliation of movement in equity
shareholders’ funds for the year then ended; and
• the notes to the financial statements, which include a summary
of significant accounting policies and other explanatory
information.
The financial reporting framework that has been applied in
the preparation of the financial statements is United Kingdom
Accounting Standards, comprising FRS 101 “Reduced Disclosure
Framework”, and applicable law (United Kingdom Generally
Accepted Accounting Practice).
Other required reporting
Consistency of other information
Companies Act 2006 opinion
In our opinion, the information given in the Strategic Report and
the Report of the Directors for the financial year for which the
financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial
statements.
ISAs (UK & Ireland) reporting
Under International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland) (“ISAs
(UK & Ireland)”) we are required to report to you if, in our opinion,
information in the Annual Report & Form 20‑F 2016 (the “Annual
Report”) is:
• materially inconsistent with the information in the audited
financial statements; or
• apparently materially incorrect based on, or materially
inconsistent with, our knowledge of the company acquired in the
course of performing our audit; or
• otherwise misleading.
We have no exceptions to report arising from this responsibility.
Adequacy of accounting records and information and
explanations received
Under the Companies Act 2006 we are required to report to you if,
in our opinion:
• we have not received all the information and explanations we
require for our audit; or
• adequate accounting records have not been kept by the
company, or returns adequate for our audit have not been
received from branches not visited by us; or
• the financial statements and the part of the Report on
Directors’ Remuneration to be audited are not in agreement
with the accounting records and returns.
We have no exceptions to report arising from this responsibility.
Directors’ remuneration
Directors’ Remuneration Report – Companies Act 2006 opinion
In our opinion, the part of the Report on Directors’ Remuneration
to be audited has been properly prepared in accordance with the
Companies Act 2006.
Other Companies Act 2006 reporting
Under the Companies Act 2006 we are required to report to you if,
in our opinion, certain disclosures of directors’ remuneration specified
by law are not made. We have no exceptions to report arising from
this responsibility.
Responsibilities for the financial statements and the audit
Our responsibilities and those of the directors
As explained more fully in the Statement of directors’
responsibilities set out on page 149, the directors are responsible
for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied
that they give a true and fair view.
Our responsibility is to audit and express an opinion on the financial
statements in accordance with applicable law and ISAs (UK & Ireland).
Those standards require us to comply with the Auditing Practices
Board’s Ethical Standards for Auditors.
This report, including the opinions, has been prepared for and only
for the company’s members as a body in accordance with Chapter
3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006 and for no other purpose.
We do not, in giving these opinions, 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.
What an audit of financial statements involves
We conducted our audit in accordance with ISAs (UK & Ireland). An
audit involves obtaining evidence about the amounts and disclosures
in the financial statements sufficient to give reasonable assurance
that the financial statements are free from material misstatement,
whether caused by fraud or error. This includes an assessment of:
• whether the accounting policies are appropriate to the company’s
circumstances and have been consistently applied and adequately
disclosed;
• the reasonableness of significant accounting estimates made by
the directors; and
• the overall presentation of the financial statements.
We primarily focus our work in these areas by assessing the directors’
judgements against available evidence, forming our own judgements,
and evaluating the disclosures in the financial statements.
We test and examine information, using sampling and other auditing
techniques, to the extent we consider necessary to provide a
reasonable basis for us to draw conclusions. We obtain audit evidence
through testing the effectiveness of controls, substantive procedures
or a combination of both.
In addition, we read all the financial and non‑financial information
in the Annual Report to identify material inconsistencies with the
audited financial statements and to identify any information that is
apparently materially incorrect based on, or materially inconsistent
with, the knowledge acquired by us in the course of performing the
audit. If we become aware of any apparent material misstatements
or inconsistencies we consider the implications for our report.
Other matter
We have reported separately on the group financial statements of
BTGroup plc for the year ended 31 March 2016.
Paul Barkus (Senior Statutory Auditor)
for and on behalf of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditors
London
4 May 2016