Appendix 5: Independent
Assurance Report from KPMG
What was included in the scope of our
assurance engagement?
Which assurance standard did we use?
67
To the readers of the Heineken N.V.
Sustainability Report 2010
We were engaged by the Executive Board of
Heineken N.V. ('Heineken') to provide limited
assurance on the Heineken Sustainability Report
2010 (further referred to as 'The Report'). The
Report, including the identification of material
issues, is the responsibility of the company's
management. Our responsibility is to issue
an assurance report on The Report.
Our engagement was designed to provide the
readers of The Report with limited assurance
on whether the information in The Report is in
all material respects fairly stated in accordance
with the reporting criteria described below.
Procedures performed to obtain a limited level of
assurance are aimed at determining the plausibility
of information and are less extensive than those
for a reasonable level of assurance.
Which reporting criteria did Heineken use?
Heineken applies its own sustainability
performance reporting criteria, derived from
the Sustainability Reporting Guidelines of the
Global Reporting Initiative (G3), as detailed in the
'Reporting basis' on pages 50 - 53. It is important
to view the performance data in the context of this
explanatory information. We believe that these
criteria are suitable in view of the purpose of our
assurance engagement.
We conducted our engagement in accordance with
Standard 3410N 'Assurance engagements relating
to sustainability reports' of the Royal Netherlands
Institute of Registeraccountants. This Standard
requires, amongst others, that the assurance
team possesses the specific knowledge, skills and
professional competencies needed to understand
and review the information in The Report, and that
they comply with ethical requirements, including
independence requirements.
What did we do to reach our conclusions?
We undertook the following procedures:
performed a media analysis and internet search
on environmental, safety and social issues
relating to Heineken, to obtain information
on relevant sustainability issues in the
reporting period;
reviewed the follow up of the stakeholder
dialogue in The Report;
reviewed the systems and processes for
information management, internal control and
processing of the qualitative and quantitative
information in The Report, at corporate level;
reviewed the systems used for generating,
validating and aggregating the environmental
and safety data at corporate level;
visited two sites in Brazil to assess the quality
of the local data management systems and the
reliability of the reported data;
reviewed the results of 12 local data
management audits performed by Heineken
Global Audit;
reviewed Heineken Global Audit activities to
determine the plausibility of the information
in The Report;
collected and reviewed internal and external
documentation to determine whether the
qualitative information is supported by
sufficient evidence;
assessed the reasonableness of the assumptions
underlying the forward-looking statements set
out in The Report;
evaluated whether the information presented
in The Report is in line with our overall
knowledge of, and experience with,
sustainability at Heineken.
During the assurance process we discussed
changes to the various drafts of The Report with
Heineken, and reviewed the final version of The
Report to ensure that it reflected our findings.
Heineken N.V. Sustainability Report 2010
