tiï O Q,
Independent Auditor's Report
Report on the audit of the financial statements 2018 included
in the Annual Report 2018
Materiality
Introduction Report of the Executive Board Report of the Supervisory Board
To the Annual General meeting of Heineken NV
Our opinion
We have audited the accompanying financial statements for 2018 of Heineken NV ('the Company'),
based in Amsterdam. The financial statements include the consolidated financial statements and the
Company financial statements.
In our opinion:
- The accompanying consolidated financial statements give a true and fair view of the financial position of
Heineken NV as at 31 December 2018, and of its result and its cash flows for 2018 in accordance with
International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the European Union (EU-IFRS) and with Part
9 of Book 2 of the Dutch Civil Code.
- The accompanying Company financial statements give a true and fair view of the financial position of
Heineken NV as at 31 December 2018, and of its result for the year 2018 in accordance with Part 9 of
Book 2 of the Dutch Civil Code.
The consolidated financial statements comprise:
- The statement of financial position as at 31 December 2018.
- The following statements for 2018: the income statement, the statements of comprehensive income,
changes in equity and cash flows.
- The notes comprising a summary of the significant accounting policies and other
explanatory information.
The Company financial statements comprise:
- The Company balance sheet as at 31 December 2018.
- The Company income statement for 2018.
- The notes comprising a summary of the significant accounting policies and other
explanatory information.
Basis for our opinion
We conducted our audit in accordance with Dutch law, including the Dutch Standards on Auditing.
Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the 'Our responsibilities for the audit of
the financial statements' section of our report.
Financial Statements
Heineken N.V. Annual Report 2018
Sustainability Review
Other Information
We are independent of Heineken N.V. in accordance with the EU Regulation on specific requirements
regarding statutory audits of public-interest entities, the Wet toezicht accountantsorganisaties (Wta,
Audit firms supervision act), the Verordening inzake de onafhankelijkheid van accountants bij assurance-
opdrachten (ViO, Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants, a regulation with respect to independence)
and other relevant independence regulations in the Netherlands. Furthermore, we have complied with the
Verordening gedrags- en beroepsregels accountants (VGBA, Dutch Code of Ethics).
We believe the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for
our opinion.
Based on our professional judgement we determined the materiality for the financial statements as a
whole at €200 million. The materiality is based on 7.0% of consolidated profit before taxation. We have
also taken into account misstatements and/or possible misstatements that in our opinion are material
for the users of the financial statements for qualitative reasons. Based on our professional judgement we
consider an income-based measure as the most appropriate basis to determine materiality. We increased
the group materiality as a percentage of profit before taxation compared to the prior year, primarily based
on our understanding of the Company and its components and the audit results of our prior year audits.
We kept the component materiality levels consistent with the prior year.
Audits of group entities (components) were performed using materiality levels determined in accordance
with the judgement of the group audit team, having regard to the materiality of the consolidated financial
statements. Component materiality did not exceed €60 million and for the majority of the components,
materiality is significantly less than this amount. Component materialities remained consistent with the
component materialities applied in prior year audit.
We agreed with the Supervisory Board that any misstatements in excess of €10 million identified during
the audit, would be reported to them. The same applied to smaller misstatements that in our view must be
reported on qualitative grounds.
Scope of the group audit
Heineken N.V. is at the head of a group of entities. The financial information of this group is included in the
consolidated financial statements of Heineken NV
Because we are ultimately responsible for our opinion, we are also responsible for directing, supervising
and performing the group audit. In this respect we have determined the nature and extent of the audit
procedures to be carried out for the group entities (components). The components' size and/or risk profiles
were decisive. On this basis, we selected components for which an audit or review had to be carried out,
either on the complete set of financial information or on specific items.
Our group audit mainly focused on significant group entities in terms of size and financial interest or on
significant risks or complex activities. This led to full scope audits being performed for 25 components.
