Voya 2014 Annual Report Download - page 124

These initiatives may be costly to implement. Due to the scope and complexity of the underlying projects relative
to these efforts, the amount of total costs could be materially higher than our estimate, and the timing of the
incurrence of these costs may be subject to change.
Until our initial public offering, ING Group performed or supported many important corporate functions for
our operations, including investor relations, advertising and brand management, corporate audit, certain risk
management functions, corporate insurance, corporate governance and other services. Our Consolidated
Financial Statements reflect charges for these services. There is no assurance that these services will be sustained
at the same levels as when we were receiving such services from ING Group prior to our initial public offering or
that we will obtain the same benefits. Now that we operate these functions independently, if we do not have our
own adequate systems and business functions in place, or are unable to obtain them from other providers, we
may not be able to operate our business effectively or at comparable costs and our profitability may decline. In
addition, our business has benefited from ING Group’s purchasing power when procuring goods and services. As
a standalone company, we may be unable to obtain such goods and services at comparable prices or on terms as
favorable as those obtained prior to our initial public offering, which could decrease our overall profitability.
As a standalone public company, we expend additional time and resources to comply with rules and
regulations that did not previously apply to us.
As a standalone public company, the various rules and regulations of the SEC, as well as the rules of the
NYSE, require us to implement and maintain additional corporate governance practices and adhere to a variety of
reporting requirements. Compliance with these public company obligations increases our legal and financial
compliance costs and could place additional demands on our finance and accounting staff and on our financial,
accounting and information systems.
In particular, as a public company, our management is required to conduct an annual evaluation of our
internal controls over financial reporting and include a management’s report on our internal controls in annual
reports on Form 10-K. In addition, we are required to have our independent registered public accounting firm
attest to the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting pursuant to Auditing Standard No. 5. If
we are unable to conclude that we have effective internal controls over financial reporting, or if our registered
public accounting firm is unable to provide us with an attestation and an unqualified report as to the effectiveness
of our internal controls over financial reporting, investors could lose confidence in the reliability of our financial
statements, which could result in a decrease in the value of our common stock.
Our historical consolidated financial data are not necessarily representative of the results we would have
achieved as a standalone company and may not be a reliable indicator of our future results.
Our historical consolidated financial data included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for periods prior to
our IPO do not necessarily reflect the financial condition, results of operations or cash flows we would have
achieved as a standalone company during the periods presented or those we will achieve in the future. For
example, we have adjusted our capital structure to more closely align with peer U.S. public companies. As a
result, financial metrics that are influenced by our capital structure, such as interest expense and return on equity,
are not necessarily indicative for periods prior to our IPO of the performance we may achieve as a standalone
company. In addition, significant increases may occur in our cost structure as a result of our initial public
offering, including costs related to public company reporting, investor relations and compliance with the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Also, as described in “—Our separation from ING Group could adversely affect
our business and profitability due to ING Group’s strong brand and reputation,” we anticipate incurring
substantial expenses in connection with rebranding our Company.
As a result of these matters, among others, it may be difficult for investors to compare our future results to
historical results or to evaluate our relative performance or trends in our business.
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