The Board is ultimately responsible for the Group's system of internal control and meets annually to formally review the effectiveness of such controls. The control systems are designed to manage, rather than eliminate, various risks of failure to achieve the Company and Group's objectives and therefore are only able to provide reasonable and not absolute, assurance against material misstatement or loss.
There is a comprehensive system of financial reporting with monthly performance reports presented to the Board. The annual budget and the business plan, upon which the budget is based, is reviewed and approved by the Board.
There is a continuous process for identifying, evaluating and managing the significant risks the Group faces, which has been in place for the year under review and up to the date of approval of the financial statements. This process is regularly reviewed by the Board and accords with the Turnbull guidance.
Major commercial, technological and financial risks are formally assessed during the annual business planning process, which normally takes place in the last quarter of the financial year. The Board monitors exposure to key business risks and progress towards achieving strategic aims.
The Executive Committee, which consists of the executive directors and senior management of subsidiaries, meets regularly to monitor and control operations. Performance is reviewed, risks & opportunities identified, financial and other implications assessed and corrective actions agreed as necessary.
Given the Group's scale of operations and centralisation of activities, the Board does not consider it necessary to have a dedicated internal audit function. Instead it has chosen to date to contract out such activities as necessary on a project by project basis.
The key risk facing the Group are reviewed and described in the Annual Report.
