2007 - April

3.0
Chairman of the Board of Directors’ report
Other 3 rd level control activities
Within APRIL Assurances, Mutant Assurances and the Axeria
Vie division, one dedicated person within each structure
is responsible for internal control, contributing, through
the 25 assignments carried out in 2007, to ensuring that
the company’s operational procedures are compliant with
internal or external standards.
In all of the Group’s divisions, the 19 members of staff in
charge of quality audits have also contributed, thanks to
the seven assignments carried out in 2007, to these control
activities in line with the Group’s internal control system.
Internal audit plan
The Group’s annual audit plan for N+1 is defined at the end
of Year N by the Group Committee and validated by the
Sustainable Development Committee.
This plan is formally reviewed each half-year period. It may
also be adapted according to the importance of new risk
areas identified or any specific requests.
More generally, all internal audit missions are carried out in
line with the Group internal audit charter aiming to:
1) Present and disseminate the objectives of internal audit
missions within APRIL GROUP companies;
2) Define the responsibilities of the various stakeholders in
the APRIL GROUP internal audit process;
3) Present the operating principles for internal audit and the
practical conditions for its implementation within APRIL
GROUP.
Each internal audit assignment is covered by a mission
statement signed by APRIL GROUP’s Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer and a detailed work program. These
documents are sent out to the manager of the company in
question prior to the assignment.
Types of internal audit missions
We differentiate between the following types of mission:
Cross-business missions and optimizations
The aim is to conduct audits on specific cross-business
issues for the various Group companies. These audits meet
the objective for control activities present throughout
the organization, at all levels and in all functions.
These missions also make it possible to identify and
distribute best management practices within the Group.
Specific missions
They are focused on potential or proven risks that have been
identified and are specific to a given company or group of
companies. Such audits may be carried out in conjunction
with external auditors.
These assignments may also make it possible to ensure
compliance with the procedures, rules and standards of the
Group and its companies.
Integration follow-up missions
They concern the companies that joined the Group over the
previous year. These comprehensive audits make it possible
to check and supplement the implementation of internal
control procedures defined by the Group. Any specific
points identified during audits carried out when these new
companies were acquired or their first months of integration
within the Group are also followed up on in connection with
these missions, with further recommendations issued as
relevant.
Audit follow-up missions
These represent essential audits in order to take stock of
progress made with the internal control system and the
effective application of previous recommendations.
Mission deliverables and follow-up
At the end of each mission, a review meeting is held with
the manager of the company concerned. This meeting is
also attended by APRIL GROUP’s Risk manager, the head of
the division in question, the auditors as well as any other
specialists whose expertise could help improve the level of
internal control.
At this point, the written report on the investigations and the
synopsis of recommendations are submitted to the manager
of the company in question. Recommendations are based on
three levels: high risk, requiring immediate action, moderate
risk, requiring an action over the medium term, low risk, when
the timeframe for implementing corrective actions is left to
the company’s discretion.
This approach enables the units being audited to take the
recommendations made on board. For each improvement
action proposed, a deadline is set and a manager appointed.
Follow-up missions are carried out to track the implementation
of recommendations, checking progress made against the
deadlines set during the review meeting. The head of the
company concerned must ensure that the recommendations
made in connection with internal audits are taken into
consideration effectively, and reports on the improvements
made at meetings of the Boards of Directors.
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