2018 Registration document and annual fi nancial report - BNP PARIBAS276

4 CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2018

4

Statutory Auditors report on the consolidated fi nancial statements

The Financial Statements Committee is responsible for monitoring the fi nancial reporting process and the effectiveness of internal control and risk management systems, as well as, where applicable, any internal audit systems, relating to accounting and fi nancial reporting procedures.

The consolidated fi nancial statements were approved by the Board of Directors.

Responsibilities of the Statutory Auditors relating to the audit of the consolidated fi nancial statements

Objective and audit approach

Our role is to issue a report on the consolidated fi nancial statements. Our objective is to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated fi nancial statements as a whole are free of material misstatement. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with professional standards will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to infl uence the economic decisions taken by users on the basis of these consolidated fi nancial statements.

As specifi ed in article L.823-10-1 of the French Commercial Code, our audit does not include assurance on the viability or quality of the Company s management.

As part of an audit conducted in accordance with professional standards applicable in France, the Statutory Auditors exercise professional judgement throughout the audit.

They also:

■ identify and assess the risks of material misstatement in the consolidated fi nancial statements, whether due to fraud or error, design and perform audit procedures in response to those risks, and obtain audit evidence considered to be suffi cient and appropriate to provide a basis for their opinion. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control;

■ obtain an understanding of the internal control procedures relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the internal control;

■ evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates made by management and the related disclosures in the notes to the consolidated fi nancial statements;

■ assess the appropriateness of management s use of the going concern basis of accounting and, based on the audit evidence obtained, whether a material uncertainty exists related to events or conditions that may cast signifi cant doubt on the Company s ability to continue as a going concern. This assessment is based on the audit evidence obtained up to the date of the audit report. However, future events or conditions may cause the Company to cease to continue as a going concern. If the Statutory Auditors conclude that a material uncertainty exists, they are required to draw attention in the audit report to the related disclosures in the consolidated fi nancial statements or, if such disclosures are not provided or are inadequate, to issue a qualifi ed opinion or a disclaimer of opinion;

■ evaluate the overall presentation of the consolidated fi nancial statements and assess whether these statements represent the underlying transactions and events in a manner that achieves fair presentation;

■ obtain suffi cient appropriate audit evidence regarding the fi nancial information of the entities or business activities within the Group to express an opinion on the consolidated fi nancial statements. The Statutory Auditors are responsible for the management, supervision and performance of the audit of the consolidated fi nancial statements and for the opinion expressed thereon.

Report to the Financial Statements Committee

We submit a report to the Financial Statements Committee which includes, in particular, a description of the scope of the audit and the audit programme implemented, as well as the results of our audit. We also report any signifi cant defi ciencies in internal control that we have identifi ed regarding the accounting and fi nancial reporting procedures.

Our report to the Financial Statements Committee includes the risks of material misstatement that, in our professional judgement, were the most signifi cant for the audit of the consolidated fi nancial statements and which constitute the key audit matters that we are required to describe in this report.

We also provide the Financial Statements Committee with the declaration provided for in article 6 of Regulation (EU) No 537/2014, confi rming our independence within the meaning of the rules applicable in France, as defi ned in particular in articles L.822-10 to L.822-14 of the French Commercial Code and in the French Code of Ethics for Statutory Auditors. Where appropriate, we discuss any risks to our independence and the related safeguard measures with the Financial Statements Committee.

Paris La Défense, Neuilly-sur-Seine and Courbevoie, 5 March 2019

The Statutory Auditors

Deloitte et Associés

Laurence Dubois

PricewaterhouseCoopers Audit

Patrice Morot

Mazars

Virginie Chauvin