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auditor's statement: ethics etc...
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Background to ethics etc... Richard Evans is
a Certified Member, Director and Chair of the Institute of
Social and Ethical AccountAbility (ISEA). Richard has
contributed to the assurance section of the new 2002 GRI
Guidelines for sustainability reporting and ISEA's new
AccountAbility Assurance Framework. ethics etc... has a
Business Direct account, but no other business or
personal relationship with the bank or its directors and
managers.
Responsibilities of the directors and the
auditor The directors of The Co-operative Bank plc
are responsible for the information in the Partnership
Report. The auditor's primary duty is to consider the
interests of the bank's Partners. This assurance
statement, which the directors have agreed to publish in
full, gives the opinion of whether The Partnership Report
is a trustworthy, complete and balanced account of the
bank's performance.
Scope and basis of the auditor's
opinion I have assessed the completeness and
balance of the whole Partnership Report and investigated
and tested the accuracy of statements, data and the
reporting of Partners' opinions. I have assessed the
completeness and reliability of the report by reviewing the
management practices, data systems, and Partner
dialogue processes which support the bank's ethical and
ecological values and practices. I have reviewed the
bank's campaigns on Climate Change and Combating
Financial Exclusion. I have also reviewed the bank's
performance and reporting against the three core principles
of the SIGMA (Sustainability Integrated Guidelines for
Management) Framework, which are accountability,
capital enhancement and environmental sustainability.
The bank has disclosed original data I considered relevant
and allowed me unlimited access to management files,
reports by internal and independent specialists, and to
staff and Partner representatives. I am confident that no
material information has been deliberately withheld. In
assessing the Partnership Report I have used The
Institute of Social and Ethical AccountAbility's AA1000
Framework Standard for social and ethical accounting,
auditing and reporting and the new AccountAbility
Assurance Framework.
Auditor's opinion On the basis of my audit of
The Partnership Report and my review of the bank's
management information and control systems, I believe
this report fairly represents the bank's economic, social
and ecological impact on its Partners and its continuing
implementation of its ethical values and policy.
The bank has reported on work during the year to
improve performance and is to be commended for its
systematic efforts to address these issues (see 'Further
comments' below).
In addition, the bank has all the elements of the SIGMA
management framework in place for accountability
and environmental sustainability, but not for capital
enhancement. However, should it choose to introduce
'capital enhancement' measures the bank's ethical and
ecological value analysis already provides a useful focus
for this.
Further comments Additional analysis is provided in the auditor's extended
statement. This describes the degree to which the bank has been responsive to
stakeholder concerns, comments on the development of its social accounting and
reporting systems and outlines aspects of reporting and response that require
further attention.
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Richard Evans, 26th March 2002 |
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