ING Direct 2015 Annual Report Download - page 239

Contents
Who we are
Report of the
Management
Board
Corporate
Governance
Consolidated
annual accounts
Parent company
annual accounts
Other
information
Additional
information
Independent auditor’s report - continued
As part of the preparation of the annual accounts, the Management Board is responsible for assessing ING Bank’s ability to continue its
activities. Based on the financial reporting frameworks mentioned, the Management Board should prepare the annual accounts using
the going concern basis of accounting unless management either intends to liquidate ING Bank or to cease operations, or has no
realistic alternative but to do so. Management should disclose events and circumstances that may cast significant doubt on ING Bank’s
ability to continue as a going concern in the annual accounts.
The Supervisory Board is responsible for overseeing the company’s financial reporting process.
Our responsibilities for the audit of the annual accounts
Our responsibility is to plan and perform the audit assignment to obtain sufficient and appropriate audit evidence for our opinion. Our
audit has been performed with a high, but not absolute, level of assurance, which means we may not have detected all errors and
fraud.
Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be
expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements. The materiality affects the
nature, timing and extent of our audit procedures and the evaluation of the effect of identified misstatements on our opinion.
We have exercised professional judgement and have maintained professional scepticism throughout the audit, in accordance with
Dutch Standards on Auditing, ethical requirements and independence requirements. Our audit included e.g.:
• Identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement of the annual accounts, whether due to fraud or error, designing and
performing audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtaining audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a
basis for our opinion. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from
error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control.
• Obtaining an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the
circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of ING Bank’s internal control.
• Evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates and related
disclosures made by management.
• Concluding on the appropriateness of management’s use of the going concern basis of accounting and based on the audit
evidence obtained, whether a material uncertainty exists related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on ING
Bank’s ability to continue as a going concern. If we conclude that a material uncertainty exists, we are required to draw attention
in our auditor’s report to the related disclosures in the annual accounts or, if such disclosures are inadequate, to modify our
opinion. Our conclusions are based on the audit evidence obtained up to the date of our auditor’s report. However, future events or
conditions may cause ING Bank ceasing to continue as a going concern.
• Evaluating the overall presentation, structure and content of the annual accounts, including the disclosures; and
• Evaluating whether the annual accounts represent the underlying transactions and events in a manner that achieves fair
presentation.
We communicate with the Supervisory Board regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit and
significant audit findings, including any significant findings in internal control that we identify during our audit.
We provide the Supervisory Board with a statement that we have complied with relevant ethical requirements regarding
independence, and to communicate with them all relationships and other matters that may reasonably be thought to bear on our
independence, and where applicable, related safeguards.
From the matters communicated with the Supervisory Board, we determine those matters that were of most significance in the audit
of the annual accounts of the current period and are therefore the key audit matters. We describe these matters in our auditor’s
report unless law or regulation precludes public disclosure about the matter or when, in extremely rare circumstances, not
communicating the matter is in the public interest.
Report on other legal and regulatory requirements
Report on the Report of the Management Board and other information
Pursuant to legal requirements of Part 9 of Book 2 of the Dutch Civil Code (concerning our obligation to report about the Report of the
Management Board report and other information):
• We have no deficiencies to report as a result of our examination whether the Report of the Management Board, to the extent we
can assess, has been prepared in accordance with Part 9 of Book 2 of the Dutch Civil Code, and whether the information as
required by Part 9 of Book 2 of the Dutch Civil Code has been annexed.
• We report that the Report of the Management Board, to the extent we can assess, is consistent with the annual accounts.
ING Bank Annual Report 2015 237