Statement of directors' responsibilities
The directors are responsible for preparing the Annual Report, 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 are required to prepare the group financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) as adopted by the European Union (EU) and Article 4 of the IAS Regulation and have also chosen to prepare the parent company financial statements under IFRSs as adopted by the EU. Under company law the directors must not approve the accounts unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company and of the profit and loss of the company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, International Accounting Standard 1 requires that directors:
- properly select and apply accounting policies;
- present information, including accounting policies, in a manner that provides relevant, reliable, comparable and understandable information;
- provide additional disclosures when compliance with the specific requirements in IFRSs are insufficient to enable users to understand the impact of particular transactions, other events and conditions on the entity’s financial position and financial performance; and
- make an assessment of the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.
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 enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the company 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 corporate and financial information included on the company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
Responsibility statement
We confirm that to the best of our knowledge:
- the financial statements, prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards, give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the company and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole; and
- the management report, which is incorporated into the directors’ report, includes a fair review of the development and performance of the business and the position of the company and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole, together with a description of the principal risks and uncertainties that they face.
Approved by the board on 27 May 2009 and signed on its behalf by:
Dr John McAdam Tim Weller
Chairman Chief financial officer