RepoRt on - BNP Paribas

production of accounting
and financial information
Accounting policies and rules
the local financial statements for each
entity are prepared under local gaaP
while the group consolidated financial
statements have been prepared under
ifrs (international financial reporting
standards) as adopted for use by the
european union.
the accounting Policies department of
the central group general accounting
department defines, based on ifrs, the
accounting policies to be applied on
a group-wide basis. it monitors regulatory
changes and prepares new internal
accounting policies with the level of
interpretation necessary to adapt them
to the operations carried out by the
group. an ifrs accounting manual has
been produced and distributed to accounting
teams within core businesses,
business lines and entities on the internal
network communication tools (intranet)
at bnP Paribas. it is regularly updated to
reflect regulatory changes. this central
department handles requests for specific
accounting studies made by the accounting
entities or business lines outside the design
or recording of a financial product.
the central budget and strategic
management control department
draws up management control rules
that apply to all the group’s business
lines. the group’s accounting and
management control policies can be
accessed in real time using the internal
network tools (intranet).
systems used
the role of dedicated teams within group
finance-development includes defining
the target architecture of the information
systems of the finance department
function (accounting systems, cost-
accounting systems, accounting and
regulatory consolidated reporting
systems and consolidated management
reporting systems). they facilitate
the sharing of information and the implementation
of cross-functional projects in
a context of increasing convergence of
the different existing accounting platforms,
both at the group and business
line level.
the information used to prepare the
bnP Paribas group consolidated
financial statements is derived from
the bank’s various transaction processing
systems, from origination by the front
office through to their accounting entry.
routing controls are ensured at each
level of the data transmission chain to
ensure these systems are adequately
fed. the group also regularly carries
out upgrade maintenance on these systems
to adapt them to the growth and
increasing complexity of its business.
lastly, dedicated teams are responsible
for defining the accounting procedures
in the back office and accounting systems
for application at the operational
level of the accounting principles established
by the accounting Policies.
process for collecting and preparing
consolidated accounting
and financial information
the process for collecting accounting
and financial information is organised
around two separate reporting channels,
one dedicated to accounting
data and the other to management
data, using the same integrated collection
and consolidation software package
known as matisse (“management
& accounting information system”); at
local level, the finance teams enter validated
financial and accounting data
into the system in accordance with
group principles.
this reporting process applies to the
channels dedicated to both financial
and management accounting data:
— accounting data:
the procedures
for preparing the group’s financial
statements are set out in the guidelines
distributed to all core businesses/
business lines and consolidated entities.
this facilitates the standardisation
of accounting and financial data and
compliance with group accounting
standards. each group entity closes
its accounts on a monthly or quarterly
basis and prepares a consolidation
reporting package and management
accounts in accordance with
group reporting deadlines. the validation
procedures which accompany
each phase in the reporting
process seek to verify that:
125 <strong>RepoRt</strong> on CoRpoRate SoCial and enviRonmental ReSponSibility
• group accounting standards have
been correctly applied
• inter-company transactions have
been correctly adjusted and eliminated
for consolidation purposes
• pre-consolidation entries have
been correctly recorded.
the finance function of the relevant
core business controls the consolidation
packages from the accounting entities
within its scope before reporting them to
the department within group financedevelopment
in charge of preparing the
consolidated financial statements;
— management data:
management
information is reported on a monthly
basis by each entity and business line
to the finance function of the relevant
core business and business line,
which then reports management
data consolidated at its level to the
budget and strategic management
control unit at group financedevelopment.
for each entity and core business/business
line a reconciliation is performed
between the main income and expense
items based on management data and
the profit and loss account intermediate
balances, prior to submitting the
package to the group reporting system.
this is supplemented by an overall
reconciliation performed by the group
finance-development function to ensure
consistency between consolidated
accounting profits and management reporting
profits. these two reconciliations
form part of the procedure for ensuring
reliable accounting and management
data.