Vodacom

Independent assurance report

Independent assurance provider’s limited assurance report on selected key performance indicators

To the Directors of Vodacom Group Limited

We have undertaken a limited assurance engagement on selected key performance indicators (KPIs), as described below, and presented in the 2017 Integrated report of Vodacom Group Limited (Vodacom) for the year ended 31 March 2017 (the Report). This engagement was conducted by a multidisciplinary team including social and assurance specialists with relevant experience in sustainability reporting.

Subject Matter

We are required to provide limited assurance on the following selected KPIs marked with a ‘^’ on the relevant pages in the Report. The selected KPIs described below have been prepared in accordance with Vodacom’s specified criteria for each KPI (Reporting Criteria), primarily Vodacom’s internally developed definitions (Vodacom Internal Criteria), which can be accessed via the link www.vodacom.com.

Table 1: Scope of the 2017 limited assurance engagement

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:

• 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;
• Inspected documentation to corroborate the statements of management and senior executives in our interviews;
• Conducted interviews with relevant key personnel and data owners to understand data collection and report preparation processes, as well as the associated key controls;
• Tested the processes and systems to generate, collate, aggregate, monitor and report the selected KPIs;
• Inspected supporting documentation on a sample basis and performed analytical procedures to evaluate the data generation and reporting processes against the Reporting Criteria;
• Evaluated the reasonableness and appropriateness of significant estimates and judgements made by the directors in the preparation of the selected KPIs; and
• 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