The Board has considered the guidance published by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales concerning the internal control requirement of the Combined Code and has established an ongoing process for identifying, evaluating and managing the significant risks faced by the Group.
The Board is responsible for the Group’s system of internal financial control, which is designed to provide reasonable, but not absolute, assurance against material misstatement or loss. The Group’s system of internal control includes, but is not limited to:
- the Board, which now includes four non executive directors, has overall responsibility for the decision making in the Group
- an annual budget is prepared in advance of the start of the financial year against which the Group’s actual performance is monitored by the directors
- the directors have put in place an organisational structure with clearly defined lines of responsibility and delegation of authority
- the Group’s management has a clear responsibility for identifying risks facing the business and for putting in place procedures to mitigate and monitor those risks and
- there are clearly defined control policies and procedures for all transactions including appropriate authorisation levels.
The Group’s organisational structure has clear lines of responsibility. Operating and financial responsibility for subsidiary companies is delegated to operational management, including risk assessment. The executive management meet regularly to review operating performance against agreed targets and objectives. This team is also responsible for resource allocation, internal communication and enforcement of the Company’s policies and procedures.
Steps continue to be taken to embed internal control and risk management further into the operations of the business and to deal with areas of improvement which come to management’s and the Board’s attention.
The Directors have reviewed the effectiveness of the Group’s internal control systems for the year ended 31st March 2009. The Board considers that in light of the control environment described above, that the company’s internal controls are effective and appropriate for the business and that there is no current requirement for a separate internal audit function.
The Chairman’s Statement and Chief Executive’s Statement present a balanced and understandable assessment of the Company’s position and prospects.
going concern
After making enquiries, the directors consider that the Group has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Consequently, they have continued to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements.