2007 - April

3.0
Chairman of the Board of Directors’ report
Readers are reminded that as comprehensive and effective
as the internal control system may be, it may only provide
reasonable assurance and not an absolute guarantee that
such risks have been fully eliminated.
2.2. Internal control system within the APRIL Group
In light of the recent publication of the internal control
frame of reference by the AMF taskforce, the internal control
system in place within the APRIL GROUP is now presented
based on its five official components:
2.2.1. Current organization: internal control players
The control organization in place within the APRIL Group is
currently based on the following players:
Group company managers
They are responsible for the implementation of internal
control procedures intended to secure the main operational
and functional processes in their business unit. They
are responsible for guaranteeing the application of the
principles and best practices defined by the Group, in
conjunction with the players outlined below. They report
to their Board of Directors or Supervisory Board on the
risk mapping drawn up for their company, as well as the
corresponding action plans
Risk manager
He is responsible for the overall management of risks
within the Group. The risk manager is also responsible
for the insurance programs offered by the Group to its
subsidiaries.
Group Internal Audit Manager
The Internal Audit Manager is responsible for ensuring
the consistency and effectiveness of internal control
within Group companies. To achieve this, he draws up
the annual audit plan for the Group Committee and
performs the Group’s internal audit missions, covering all
of the Group’s activities and companies, and working with
expert employees from the field being audited as relevant.
He oversees the work of the Statutory Auditors during their
interim assignments.
Members of the Risk division
Around 15 members of staff within the Group are
actively working on continuously improving the
internal control systems put in place within the Group.
To some extent, this concerns resources that are dedicated
exclusively to the global internal control approach:
- In the most significant companies, the internal control
manager is responsible for defining and applying a
program to review the operations, controls and processes
implemented by the company. They check the application of
the management rules defined by the executive management
team and report on their work to the company’s Audit
Committee or the senior management team;
- In 2007, two positions were created for internal
controllers: one in the LIFE AND SAVINGS division, the
other at Mutant Assurances. Their role and way of working
are similar to what has been described above.
At the same time, other divisions are working with shared
resources: the financial controllers.
Reporting to the holding structures at the head of the
various divisions, they are responsible for the Group’s
budgetary procedure and check the consistency of the
various budgets produced during the year by the companies
making up the Group. They summarize and verify the
consistency of the monthly activity reports provided by
Group companies. They analyze the consolidated vision of
activities for Group companies.
Their work also involves an internal audit role. In this
way, they draw up an internal audit plan for the division,
presented each quarter to the division’s management team,
in the presence of the Group’s internal audit manager.
Group legal departments
These departments provide legal support for Group
companies, and keep them informed of major changes in
regulations .
Quality managers
In each one of the Group’s divisions, a quality manager is
responsible for coordinating, carrying out or supervising
internal quality audits in line with ISO and the set of
internal quality standards and customer commitments.
The Group’s 19 internal quality auditors conduct audit
missions throughout the year to check that the different
commitments of companies are respected. The projects and
missions carried out by the quality managers are presented
to APRIL GROUP’s Group Committee on a regular basis.
Sustainable Development Committee
Its mission is presented in Section 1 of this report; it is
notably tasked to ensure that the main risks facing the
Group are understood and dealt with in a suitable manner.
The Sustainable Development Committee supports the
Group’s efforts to factor in and deal with certain potentially
major risks (e.g. review of information systems). Every
half-year period, the Risk Manager and the internal audit
manager report on progress made to this committee,
focusing on risk management and internal control.
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