Directors’ responsibilities

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The annual report and accounts complies with the Disclosure and Transparency Rules (‘DTR’) of the United Kingdom’s Financial Services Authority in respect of the requirement to produce an annual financial report.

The annual report and accounts is the responsibility of, and has been approved by, the directors.

We confirm that to the best of our knowledge:

  • the consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (‘IFRS’);
  • the financial statements give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the Company and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole; and
  • the annual report and accounts includes a review of the development and performance of the business and the position of the Company and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole, together with a description of the principal risks and uncertainties that they face.

On behalf of the Board

Signature: Mark J White

Mark J White
General Counsel and Company Secretary
26 November 2008

The directors are required to prepare financial statements for the Group in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (‘IFRS’). Company law requires the directors to prepare such financial statements in accordance with IFRS, the Companies Act 1985 and Article 4 of the IAS Regulation.

International Accounting Standard 1 requires that financial statements present fairly for each financial year the Group’s financial position, financial performance and cash flows. This requires the faithful representation of the effects of transactions, other events and conditions in accordance with the definitions and recognition criteria for assets, liabilities, income and expense set out in the International Accounting Standards Board’s ‘Framework for the Preparation and Presentation of Financial Statements’. In virtually all circumstances, a fair presentation will be achieved by compliance with all applicable International Financial Reporting Standards.

Directors are also required to:

  • properly select and apply accounting policies;
  • present information, including accounting policies, in a manner that provides relevant, reliable, comparable and understandable information;
  • provide additional disclosures when compliance with the specific requirements in IFRS is insufficient to enable users to understand the impact of particular transactions, other events and conditions on the entity’s financial position and financial performance; and
  • prepare the accounts on a going concern basis unless, having assessed the ability of the Group to continue as a going concern, management either intends to liquidate the entity or to cease trading, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

The directors are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Company, for safeguarding the assets, for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities and for the preparation of a directors’ report and directors’ remuneration report which comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 1985. The directors, having prepared the financial statements, have permitted the auditors to take whatever steps and undertake whatever inspections they consider to be appropriate for the purpose of enabling them to give their audit opinion.

The directors are also responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the Compass Group PLC website.

Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.