Barclays 2010 Annual Report Download - page 186

Presentation of information
Barclays PLC is a public limited company registered in England under
company number 48839. The Company, originally named Barclay &
Company Limited, was incorporated in England and Wales on 20th July
1896 under the Companies Acts 1862 to 1890 as a company limited by
shares. The Company name was changed to Barclays Bank Limited on
17th February 1917 and it was reregistered in 1982 as a public limited
company under the Companies Acts 1948 to 1980. On 1st January 1985,
the Company changed its name to Barclays PLC.
The Annual Report includes certain information required to be included in
the Barclays PLC and Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2010. Form 20-F will
contain as exhibits certificates pursuant to Sections 302 and 906 of the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, signed by the Chief Executive and the Group
Finance Director.
BBA Code for Financial Reporting Disclosure
In September 2010, the British Bankers’ Association published a Code for
Financial Reporting Disclosure. The Code sets out five disclosure principles
together with supporting guidance. The principles are that UK banks will:
– provide high quality, meaningful and decision-useful disclosures;
– review and enhance their financial instrument disclosures for key areas
of interest;
– assess the applicability and relevance of good practice
recommendations to their disclosures acknowledging the importance
of such guidance;
– seek to enhance the comparability of financial statement disclosures
across the UK banking sector; and
– clearly differentiate in their annual reports between information that is
audited and information that is unaudited.
Barclays confirms that it has adopted the BBA Code for Financial Reporting
Disclosure and has prepared the 2010 Annual Report and Accounts in
compliance with the Code.
The Group aims to continually enhance its disclosures and their usefulness
to the readers of the financial statements in the light of developing market
practice and areas of focus.
In particular, in 2010 we have:
– concentrated our disclosures on financial risks in the Risk management
section to present as far as possible, related information in one place
and reduce duplication, distinguishing between audited and unaudited
information;
– enhanced our disclosures of principal risks; and
– refocused our financial statement disclosures to concentrate on material
items and to reduce disclosures of immaterial items.
Statutory Accounts
The consolidated accounts of Barclays PLC and its subsidiaries are set out
on pages 187 to 270 along with the accounts of Barclays PLC itself on
pages 192 to 193. The accounting policies on pages 194 to 205 and the
Notes commencing on page 206 apply equally to both sets of accounts
unless otherwise stated.
184 Barclays PLC Annual Report 2010 www.barclays.com/annualreport10