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Vodacom Group Limited
Integrated report for the year ended 31 March 2017
Independent assurance report
continued
Directors’ Responsibilities
The Directors are responsible for the selection, preparation and
presentation of the selected KPIs in accordance with the
Reporting Criteria. This responsibility includes the identification of
stakeholders and stakeholder requirements, material issues,
commitments with respect to sustainability performance and
design, implementation and maintenance of internal control
relevant to the preparation and presentation of the selected KPIs
in the Report that are free from material misstatement, whether
due to fraud or error.
Our Independence and Quality Control
We have complied with the independence and all other ethical
requirements of the Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants
issued by the International Ethics Standards Board for
Accountants, which is founded on fundamental principles of
integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care,
confidentiality and professional behaviour.
KPMG Services Proprietary Limited applies the International
Standard on Quality Control 1 and accordingly maintains a
comprehensive system of quality control including documented
policies and procedures regarding compliance with ethical
requirements, professional standards and applicable legal and
regulatory requirements.
Our Responsibility
Our responsibility is to express a limited assurance conclusion on
the selected KPIs based on the procedures we have performed
and the evidence we have obtained. We conducted our limited
assurance engagement in accordance with the International
Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000 (Revised),
Assurance Engagements other than Audits or Reviews of Historical
Financial Information, issued by the International Auditing and
Assurance Standards Board. That Standard requires that we plan
and perform our engagement to obtain limited assurance about
whether the selected KPIs are free from material misstatement.
A limited assurance engagement undertaken in accordance with
ISAE 3000 (Revised) involves assessing the suitability in the
circumstances of Vodacom’s use of its Reporting Criteria as the
basis of preparation for the selected KPIs, assessing the areas of
material misstatement of the selected KPIs whether due to fraud
or error, responding to the assessed risks as necessary in the
circumstances, and evaluating the overall presentation of the
selected KPIs. A limited assurance engagement is substantially
less in scope than a reasonable assurance engagement in relation
to both risk assessment procedures, including an understanding
of internal control, and the procedures performed in response to
the assessed risks. The procedures we performed were based on
our professional judgement and included inquiries, observation of
processes followed, inspection of documents, analytical
procedures, evaluating the appropriateness of quantification
methods and reporting policies, and agreeing or reconciling with
underlying records.
Given the circumstances of the engagement, in performing the
procedures listed above we:
g
g
Interviewed management and senior executives to obtain an
understanding of the internal control environment, risk
assessment process and information systems relevant to the
sustainability reporting process;
g
g
Inspected documentation to corroborate the statements of
management and senior executives in our interviews;
g
g
Conducted interviews with relevant key personnel and data
owners to understand data collection and report preparation
processes, as well as the associated key controls;
g
g
Tested the processes and systems to generate, collate,
aggregate, monitor and report the selected KPIs;
g
g
Inspected supporting documentation on a sample basis and
performed analytical procedures to evaluate the data generation
and reporting processes against the Reporting Criteria;
g
g
Evaluated the reasonableness and appropriateness of significant
estimates and judgements made by the directors in the
preparation of the selected KPIs; and
g
g
Evaluated whether the selected KPIs presented in the Report is
consistent with our overall knowledge and experience of
sustainability management and performance at Vodacom.
The procedures performed in a limited assurance engagement
vary in nature and form, and are less in extent than for a
reasonable assurance engagement. As a result, the level of
assurance obtained in a limited assurance engagement is
substantially lower than the assurance that would have been
obtained had we performed a reasonable assurance engagement.
Accordingly, we do not express a reasonable assurance opinion
about whether Vodacom’s KPIs have been prepared, in all material
respects, in accordance with Vodacom’s Reporting Criteria.
Limited Assurance Conclusion
Based on the procedures we have performed and evidence we
have obtained, nothing has come to our attention that causes us
to believe that the selected KPIs presented as set out in the
Subject Matter paragraph for the year ended 31 March 2017 are
not prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with
Vodacom’s Reporting Criteria.
Other Matters
The maintenance and integrity of Vodacom’s website is the
responsibility of Vodacom management. Our procedures did not
involve consideration of these matters and, accordingly we accept
no responsibility for any changes to either the information in the
Report or our independent limited assurance report that may
have occurred since the initial date of its presentation on
Vodacom’s website.
Restriction of Liability
Our work has been undertaken to enable us to express a limited
assurance conclusion on the selected KPIs to the Directors of
Vodacom in accordance with the terms of our engagement, and
for no other purpose. We do not accept or assume liability to any
party other than Vodacom, for our work, for this report, or for the
conclusion we have reached.
KPMG Services Proprietary Limited
Per Shireen Naidoo
Director
KPMG Crescent, 85 Empire Road, Parktown,
Johannesburg 2193
2 June 2017