APC 2011 Annual Report Download - page 142

140 2011 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
3INTERNAL CONTROL AND RISK MANAGEMENT
The Management Control and Accounting unit is tasked with
overseeing:
•the quality of reporting packages submitted monthly by
thesubsidiaries;
•the results of programmed procedures;
•the integrity of the consolidation system database.
The Management Control and Accounting unit ensures that:
•given that the Group consolidated fi nancial statements are
fi nalized a few weeks after the annual and half-year balance
sheet date, subsidiaries perform a hard close at May 31,
and November 30, of each year so that most consolidation
adjustments for the period can be calculated in advance;
•the scope of consolidation is determined and, in cooperation
with the Legal Affairs Department, the Group’s interest and
the type of control (exclusive control, joint control, signifi cant
infl uence) of each subsidiary, determined on the basis of the
consolidationmethod;
•instructions are issued for the closing process, including reporting
deadlines, required data and any necessary adjustments;
•the Group’s consolidated fi nancial statements are analysed
in detail, to understand and check the main contributions by
subsidiaries, as well as the substance of transactions refl ected
in the accounts;
•accounting classifi cations are verifi ed, in particular the preparation
and approval of the statement of changes in equity and the cash
fl ow statement being the key control points.
Internal control procedures confi rm the existence and value of
assets and liabilities. To this end:
•each subsidiary is responsible for implementing procedures
providing an adequate level of internal control;
•internal control procedures generally consist of defi ning levels
of responsibility for authorising and checking transactions, and
segregating tasks to help ensure that all transactions are justifi ed.
In addition, integrated statutory and management reporting
systems have been developed to guarantee the completeness of
transaction data recorded in the accounts;
•all of the subsidiaries apply International Financial Reporting
Standards (IFRS) with regard to recognition principles,
measurement and accounting methods, impairment and
verifi cation;
•the Management Control and Accounting unit performs checks
and analyses.
10.7 Report of the Statutory Auditors on the internal control procedure
Statutory Auditors’ Report, prepared in
accordance with article L. 225-235 of French
Commercial Code (Code de commerce), on
the report prepared by the Chairman of the
Supervisory Board of the Company Schneider
Electric S.A.
This is a free translation into English of a report issued in French language and is
provided solely for the convenience of English-speaking users. This report should be
read in conjunction with and construed in accordance with French law and professional
auditing standards applicable in France.
To the Shareholders,
In our capacity as statutory auditors of Schneider Electric S.A. and
in accordance with article L. 225 235 of French Commercial Code
(Code de Commerce), we hereby report on the report prepared by
the Chairman of your Company in accordance with article L. 225-
68 of French Commercial Code (Code de Commerce) for the year
ended December 31, 2011.
It is the chairman’ s responsibility to prepare and submit for the
supervisory board’ s approval a report on the internal control and
risk management procedures implemented by the company and
to provide other information required by article L. 225-68 of French
commercial code (Code de commerce) relating to matters such as
corporate governance.
Our role is to:
•report on the information contained in the chairman’ s report in
respect of the internal control and risk management procedures
relating to the preparation and processing of accounting and
fi nancial information;
•confi rm that the report also includes other information required
by article L. 225-68 of French commercial code (Code de
commerce). It should be noted that our role is not to verify the
fairness of this other information.
We conducted our work in accordance with French professional
standards.
Information on the internal control and risk
management procedures relating to the preparation
and processing of accounting and financial
information
These standards require that we perform the necessary procedures
to assess the fairness of the information provided in the chairman’ s
report in respect of the internal control and risk management
procedures relating to the preparation and processing of the
accounting and fi nancial information. These procedures consist
mainly in:
•obtaining an understanding of the internal control and risk
management procedures relating to the preparation and
processing of the accounting and fi nancial information on which
the information presented in the Chairman’ s report is based, and
existing documentation;
•obtaining an understanding of the work involved in the preparation
of this information and of the existing documentation;
•determining if any material weaknesses in the internal control
procedures relating to the preparation and processing of
accounting and fi nancial information that we would have noted in