Unilever 2008 Annual Report Download - page 81

Statement of Directors’ responsibilities
Annual accounts
The Directors are required by Title 9, Book 2 of the Civil Code in
the Netherlands and the United Kingdom Companies Act 1985
to prepare accounts for each financial year which give a true and
fair view of the state of affairs of the Unilever Group, and the NV
and PLC entities as at the end of the financial year and of the
profit or loss and cash flows for that year.
The Directors consider that, in preparing the accounts, the Group
and the NV and PLC entities have used the most appropriate
accounting policies, consistently applied and supported by
reasonable and prudent judgements and estimates, and that all
International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the EU
and as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (in
the case of the consolidated accounts) and United Kingdom
accounting standards (in the case of the parent company accounts)
which they consider to be applicable have been followed.
The Directors have responsibility for ensuring that NV and PLC
keep accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy
their financial position and which enable the Directors to ensure
that the accounts comply with the relevant legislation. They also
have a general responsibility for taking such steps as are
reasonably open to them to safeguard the assets of the Group,
and to prevent and detect fraud and other irregularities.
This statement, which should be read in conjunction with the
Auditors’ report, is made with a view to distinguishing for
shareholders the respective responsibilities of the Directors
and of the auditors in relation to the accounts.
A copy of the financial statements of the Unilever Group is
placed on our website at www.unilever.com/investorrelations The
maintenance and integrity of the website are the responsibility of
the Directors, and the work carried out by the auditors does not
involve consideration of these matters. Accordingly, the auditors
accept no responsibility for any changes that may have occurred
to the financial statements since they were initially placed on the
website. Legislation in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands
governing the preparation and dissemination of financial
statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
UK law sets out additional responsibilities for the Directors of
PLC regarding disclosure of information to auditors. Disclosure
in respect of these responsibilities is made on page 151.
Directors’ responsibility statement
Each of the Directors confirms that, to the best of his or her
knowledge:
• the financial statements which have been prepared in
accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as
adopted by the EU and as issued by the International
Accounting Standards Board (in the case of the consolidated
accounts) and United Kingdom accounting standards (in the
case of the PLC parent company accounts) and United Kingdom
accounting standards and Part 9 of Book 2 of the Dutch Civil
Code (in the case of the NV parent company accounts), give a
true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and
profit or loss of the Group and the NV and PLC entities taken
as a whole; and
• the Report of the Directors includes a fair review of the
development and performance of the business and the position
of the Group and the NV and the PLC entities taken as a
whole, together with a description of the principal risks and
uncertainties they face.
The Directors and their functions are listed on pages 18 and 19.
Going concern
The activities of the Group, together with the factors likely to
affect its future development, performance and position are set
out on pages 1 to 17 and 20 to 34. The financial position of the
Group, its cash flows, liquidity position and borrowing facilities
are described in the Financial Review on pages 35 to 43. In
addition, we describe in note 17 on pages 108 to 113 the
Group’s objectives, policies and processes for managing its capital;
its financial risk management objectives; details of its financial
instruments and hedging activities; and its exposures to credit and
liquidity risk.
The Group has considerable financial resources together with
established business relationships with many customers and
suppliers in countries throughout the world. As a consequence,
the Directors believe that the Group is well placed to manage its
business risks successfully despite the current uncertain outlook.
After making enquiries, the Directors have a reasonable
expectation that the Group has adequate resources to continue in
operational existence for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, they
continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the
Annual Report and Accounts.
Internal and disclosure controls and procedures
Please refer to pages 25 to 27 for a discussion of Unilever’s
principal risk factors and to page 28 for commentary on the
Group’s approach to risk management and control.
78 Unilever Annual Report and Accounts 2008
Financial statements