2007 - April

3.0
Chairman of the Board of Directors’ report
2.4. Internal control structure relative to
accounting procedures and financial information
2.4.1. Production of consolidated financial statements
and controls on subsidiary accounts
The accounting and financial information to be provided
to shareholders is drawn up by the APRIL GROUP’s Finance
Division based on the elements provided by Group companies
and drawn up under the responsibility of their managers.
The economic data submitted to APRIL GROUP’s Finance
Division by APRIL Group companies is drawn up under the
control of the divisions’ financial managers.
Each month, APRIL GROUP’s consolidation and reporting
department carries out a critical analysis of the financial
data and management indicators provided by each of the
companies within the Group.
Each month, the manager of each subsidiary sends the
division concerned and the Group’s Finance Division an
activity report enabling them to understand and validate the
figures provided.
The consolidation and reporting department consolidates the
accounting data for all the companies included in the basis
for consolidation each quarter. The information is sent to
the parent company as consolidation packages drawn up in
accordance with the accounting standards and instructions
provided by the Group consolidation and reporting
department. At this point, each consolidation package is
reviewed and checked to ensure that the data is consistent
with the management indicators by the APRIL GROUP
consolidation and reporting department and the financial
managers from the various divisions. Companies are provided
with an annual consolidation and reporting schedule at the
beginning of the year. At each close of accounts, written
instructions are given indicating the schedule for tasks
(notably the conditions for consolidating inter-company
flows), the latest relevant accounting developments and the
information control procedures that make it possible to draw
up the APRIL Group’s consolidated financial statements.
The scope of the Group is checked by the Finance Division
and validated in conjunction with Group Legal Services.
2.4.2. APRIL GROUP’s budgetary process
APRIL GROUP’s budgetary process enables it to track the
income of each subsidiary on a regular basis and react rapidly
to any changes identified at the following stages:
In October of Year N–1, Group companies draw up Budget
n and N+1, under the responsibility of their managers
and in line with the three-year medium-term plan. These
budgets are drawn up under the control of the divisions’
financial managers;
Critical review of budgets by the consolidation and reporting
department: analysis and validation of assumptions, checks to
ensure that figures provided are consistent with actual data;
In February: review of assumptions used to draw up
budgets in light of the definitive results and adjustments
made to budgets where necessary;
In June: revision of their Budget N by Group companies
based on the revised assumptions drawn up by managers,
critical analysis and validation of revisions by the
consolidation and reporting department;
In October of Year N, companies draw up a second revised
version of their budget n, with the consolidation and
reporting department conducting a critical analysis of and
validating the revised budgets;
At each stage, the budgets and their revised forecasts
are consolidated at Group level by the consolidation and
reporting department.
The budgets drawn up by managers of companies making up
the APRIL Group and their revised forecasts are presented
and reviewed by each company’s Board of Directors or
Supervisory Board.
The consolidated Group budget and revised forecasts are
ratified by the Group Committee before being reviewed by
the Board of Directors.
2.4.3. Accounting and financial procedures
The Finance Division keeps a manual of accounting and
financial procedures up-to-date. This manual is available
online and updated on a regular basis in line with changes to
accounting standards. It represents the basic tool for sharing
Group accounting best practices and methods within Group
companies.
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