Furthermore, the executive directors are responsible for the preparation of the group management report that, as a whole, provides an appropriate view of the Group’s position and is, in all material respects, consistent with the consolidated financial statements, complies with German legal requirements, and appropriately presents the opportunities and risks of future development. In addition, the executive directors are responsible for such arrangements and measures
Group’s ability to continue as a going concern. If we conclude that a material uncertainty exists, we are required to draw attention in the auditor’s report to the related disclosures in the consolidated financial statements and in the group management report or, if such disclosures are inadequate, to modify our respective audit opinions. Our conclusions are based on the audit evidence obtained up to the date of our auditor’s report. However, future events or conditions may cause the Group to cease to be able to continue as a going concern.
Group in compliance with IFRSs as adopted by the EU and the additional requirements of German commercial law pursuant to
− Evaluate the consistency of the group management report with the consolidated financial statements, its conformity with German law, and the view of the Group’s position it provides.
− Perform audit procedures on the prospective information presented by the executive directors in the group management report. On the basis of sufficient appropriate audit evidence we evaluate, in particular, the significant assumptions used by the executive directors as a basis for the prospective information, and evaluate the proper derivation of the prospective information from these assumptions. We do not express a separate audit opinion on the prospective information and on the assumptions used as a basis. There is a substantial unavoidable risk that future events will differ materially from the prospective information.
German Public Auditor responsible for the engagement The German Public Auditor responsible for the engagement is
Report on a limited and reasonable assurance engagement on non-financial reporting
− limited assurance on the environmental indicators “greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per employee” and “% of green electricity” of
Our audit firm applies the national legal requirements and professional standards – in particular the Professional Code for
Institut der Wirtschaftsprüfer (Institute of Public Auditors in Germany; IDW): Requirements to quality control for audit firms (IDW
Within the scope of our engagement we did not perform any procedures on external sources of information or expert opinions, referred to in the Non-financial Report. Furthermore, we did not evaluate the data process regarding the key performance indicators
“Inclusive Meritocracy Index” and “Net Promoter Score” performed by external service providers.
We conducted our assurance engagement in accordance with the International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000
This Standard requires that we plan and perform the assurance engagement to allow us
− to conclude with limited assurance that nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the Environmental Indicators disclosed in section “Environmental Matters” of the Company ’s Non-financial Report for the period from 1 January to 31 December 2018 have not been prepared, in all material aspects, in accordance with §§ 315b and 315c in conjunction with 289b to 289e HGB and
− to obtain reasonable assurance whether all information other than the Environmental Indicators in the Non-financial Report for the period from 1 January to 31 December 2018 has been prepared, in all material aspects, in accordance with §§ 315b and 315c in conjunction with 289b to 289e HGB.
Within the scope of our assurance engagement, we performed amongst others the following assurance procedures and further activities: − Obtaining an understanding of the structure of the sustainability organization and of the stakeholder engagement.
− Identification of the likely risks of material misstatement of the
− Obtaining an understanding of the work of external experts providing data as well as evaluation of competence, capabilities and objectivity of these external experts.