DHL 2015 Annual Report Download - page 96

Deutsche Post  Group —  Annual Report
5
Control: For key opportunities and risks, early warning indicators have been dened
that are monitored constantly by those responsible. Corporate Internal Audit has
the task of ensuring that the Board of Management’s specications are adhered to.
It also reviews the quality of the entire opportunity and risk management operation.
e control units regularly analyse all parts of the process as well as the reports from
Internal Audit and the independent auditors with the goal of identifying potential
for improvement and making adjustments where necessary.
Internal accounting control and risk management system
(Disclosures required under section  , No.  of the Handelsgesetzbuch (–
German Commercial Code) and explanatory report)
Deutsche Post  Group uses an internal control system  to ensure that Group
accounting adheres to generally accepted accounting principles. e system is intended
to make sure that statutory provisions are complied with and that both internal and
external accounting provide a valid depiction of business processes in gures. All gures
must be entered and processed accurately and completely. Accounting mistakes are to
be avoided in principle and signicant assessment errors uncovered promptly.
e  design comprises organisational and technical measures that extend to all
companies in the Group. Centrally standardised accounting guidelines govern the recon-
ciliation of the single-entity nancial statements and ensure that international nancial
reporting standards   s are applied in a uniform manner throughout the Group.
All Group companies are required to use a standard chart of accounts. We immediately
assess new developments in international accounting for relevance and announce their
implementation in a timely manner, for example, in monthly newsletters. Oen, ac-
counting processes are pooled in a shared service centre in order to centralise and
standardise them. e  nancial statements of the separate Group companies are
recorded in a standard, -based system and then processed at a central location where
one-step consolidation is performed. Other  components include automatic plausi-
bility reviews and system validations of the accounting data. In addition, regular, manual
checks are carried out decentrally by those responsible at the local level (a chief nan cial
ocer, for example), and centrally by Corporate Accounting & Controlling, Taxes and
Corporate Finance at the Corporate Center.
Over and above  and risk management, Corporate Internal Audit is an essential
component of the Group’s control and monitoring system. Using risk-based auditing
procedures, Corporate Internal Audit regularly examines the processes related to nan-
cial reporting and reports its results to the Board of Management. e data reported are
checked and analysed chronologically, both upstream and downstream. If necessary, we
call in outside experts. Finally, the Group’s standardised process for preparing nancial
statements using a centrally administered nancial statements calendar guarantees a
structured and ecient accounting process.
Reporting and assessing opportunities and risks
In the following, we have reported mainly on those risks and opportunities which, from
the current standpoint, could have a signicant impact upon the Group during the
forecast period beyond the impact already accounted for in the business plan. e risks
and opportunities have been assessed in terms of their probability of occurrence and
86