HSBC 2015 Annual Report Download - page 324

Directors’ Responsibility Statement
Statement
HSBC HOLDINGS PLC
322
Directors’ Responsibility Statement
The Directors are responsible for preparing the Annual Report and Accounts, the Directors’ Remuneration Report and the
financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.
Company law requires the Directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law the Directors have
prepared the parent company (‘Company’) and Group financial statements in accordance with International Financial
Reporting Standards (‘IFRSs’) as adopted by the European Union. In preparing these financial statements, the Directors have
also elected to comply with IFRSs, issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (‘IASB’). Under company law the
Directors must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of
affairs of the Company and Group and of the profit or loss of the Company and Group for that period. In preparing these financial
statements, the Directors are required to:
• select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
• make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
• state whether applicable IFRSs as adopted by the European Union and IFRSs issued by IASB have been followed, subject to
any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
• prepare the financial statements on a going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Company and
Group will continue in business.
The Directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the Company’s
transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Company and the Group and
enable them to ensure that the financial statements and the Directors’ Remuneration Report comply with the Companies Act
2006 and, as regards the Group financial statements, Article 4 of the IAS Regulation. They are also responsible for safeguarding
the assets of the Company and the Group and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and
other irregularities.
The Directors are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the Company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom
governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
The Directors consider that the Annual Report and Accounts 2015, taken as a whole, is fair, balanced and understandable and
provides the information necessary for shareholders to assess the company’s performance, business model and strategy.
Each of the Directors1, whose names and functions are listed in the ‘Report of the Directors: Corporate Governance’ section
on pages 249 to 255 of the Annual Report and Accounts 20151, confirm that, to the best of their knowledge:
• the Group financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the EU, give a true and
fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the Group; and
• the management report represented by the Report of the Directors includes a fair review of the development and
performance of the business and the position of the Group, together with a description of the principal risks
and uncertainties that it faces.
In accordance with Section 418 of the Companies Act 2006, the Directors’ report includes a statement, in the case of each
Director in office as at the date the Report of the Directors is approved, that:
• so far as the Director is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the Company’s auditors are unaware; and
• they have taken all the steps they ought to have taken as a director in order to make themselves aware of any relevant
audit information and to establish that the Company’s auditors are aware of that information.
On behalf of the Board
Douglas Flint
Group Chairman
22 February 2016
1 Other than Henri de Castries who was not a Director at the time of approval of the Annual Report and Accounts 2015.