68. Appendix 2: Assurance Report, KPMG Sustainability (continued)
and Assurance Standards Board. Amongst others
this standard requires that:
the assurance team members possess the
specific knowledge, skills and professional
competencies needed to understand and audit
the information in the Report, and that they
comply with the requirements of the IFAC Code
of Ethics for Professional Accountants to ensure
their independence.
There are no generally accepted international
standards for sustainability reporting. Heineken
applies its own internal sustainability reporting
criteria, derived from the Global Reporting Initiative,
which are detailed at the Heineken website.
What did we do to reach our conclusions?
We performed the following assurance activities
between February 2005 and April 2006:
To determine whether the specified information
is fairly stated, we:
- reviewed and tested the systems used for
generating, validating and aggregating the
2004 and 2005 data at corporate level;
- assessed the qualitative information by
interviewing staff and management, by
reviewing the systems and processes used
to collect the information, and by testing
underlying documentation;
- performed a media analysis and internet
search on the selected issues, to obtain
independent information and context for
these issues in the reporting period.
For the performance data for the key
performance indicators we also:
- visited 12 sites in Europe, Asia, South
America and Africa to assess the quality of
the local data management systems and the
reliability of the reported data for 2004
and/or 2005;
- reviewed the changes in data management
systems at 23 sites which had been visited
over the past three years.
During our investigation we discussed the
necessary changes in the Report with Heineken
and determined that these changes have been
adequately incorporated in the final version.
How should you read our conclusions?
Environmental, health, safety and social performance
data are subject to inherent limitations, given their
nature and the methods used for measuring,
calculating and estimating the data. It is important
to view the information and the performance data
for 2004 and 2005 and our conclusions related to
these data in the context of the qualifications
detailed in appendix 3 'Reporting process' on
pages 70-72.
Heineken N.V. - 2004/2005 Sustainability Report