Registration Document BOUYGUES

focus was on monitoring the action plans decided
on in 2009 and 2010.
At TF1, the 2011 campaign looked mainly at the
principles specific to the TF1 group, including all
its entities.
In each business, a summary of the assessments
made in the 2011 campaign was presented to the
Accounts Committee of the business segment’s
lead company.
In addition, the Group IT tool for assessing internal
control was installed in all the business segments
in July 2011.
17.3 General internal
control environment
The parent company and the senior executives
of the Group strive to create an environment that
promotes awareness of the need for internal control
among Group employees. The same applies to
the parent companies of the business segments.
That determination was further reflected in the
Group Conference on Internal Control and Risk
Management, organised on 19 January 2012
and attended by the principal managers involved
in this process. During the conference, which
served as an interim review, the Group's senior
management once again stressed that the internal
control approach ought to be implemented with
ever greater effectiveness throughout the Group.
They said that risk management needed to be
increasingly hands-on so that it could make a truly
significant contribution to the smooth organisation
and management of the Group.
More generally, Group senior management’s desire
to promote the general internal control environment
is expressed in various areas and notably employee
behaviour and respect for ethics. The Chairman
and Chief Executive Officer regularly issues strong
messages to the Group’s senior executives about
the need for impeccable conduct in every respect,
which means both complying with prevailing laws
and regulations and observing the Group’s own
ethics and values.
He does so firstly at Group Management Meetings,
which are attended once a quarter by the Group’s
top managers (about 450 people), and also
through the Bouygues Management Institute (IMB),
which organises regular seminars on Development
of Bouygues Values, designed to raise awareness
among top management of the need to comply
in all circumstances with laws and regulations
and with the ethical rules that form the basis of
the Group’s mindset. The Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer of Bouygues and other members
of the company’s senior management always
speak at these seminars.
From time to time, the Group’s Corporate Secretary
organises executive seminars designed more
specifically to remind participants of the regulations
that apply in various areas and how they tie
in with legal problems encountered by the business
segments.
These efforts are taken up and amplified in the
business segments. At Bouygues Construction,
for example, the management committees of all
the entities as well as the top managers of the
holding company – 140 people in all – followed a
special training programme as part of the ethics
policy. In 2011 at Colas, 400 employees attended
day-long training sessions in ethics and managerial
accountability.
The Board of Directors of Bouygues has formed
an Ethics and Sponsorship Committee. Detailed
information on the committee and what it does
can be found in section of the report devoted to
corporate governance.
The Bouygues group also has a Code of Ethics that
lays down the essential values to which the Group
and its employees are expected to adhere in the
workplace. The existence of this code contributes
to achieving the objective of better conduct and is
intended to help staff make decisions in real situations
by reference to clear and precise principles.
This momentum is continuing, with each business
segment appointing an Ethics Officer and
the Boards of Directors of most business segments
(Bouygues Immobilier, Bouygues Telecom,
Bouygues Construction and Colas) creating Ethics
Committees.
The Bouygues group has implemented a whistleblowing
procedure so that employees can report
infringements of ethical principles.
The procedure has been brought into line with the
recommendations of the French data protection
authority, Cnil. In accordance with the European
Commission Recommendation of 15 February
2005 on the role of directors, the procedure
operates under the supervision of the Ethics and
Sponsorship Committee of the Board of Directors.
Maintaining a high level of competence among
Bouygues group employees is also one of the
parent company’s aims, since it helps to create
an environment favourable to internal control.
Bouygues therefore takes a proactive approach to
staff training, while seeking to secure the loyalty of
its senior employees. This will preserve a level of
experience and knowledge in the company that
will enable the Group’s culture and values to be
passed on.
More generally, the philosophy that the parent
company wishes its business segments to share is
that of a group whose senior executives are close
to their key employees and whose management
practices are transparent, prudent and rigorous.
These principles are formulated at Management
Committee level and passed on to business segments
at all levels (Board of Directors, senior management
and management committee). Strategic
decisions taken by the Group at the highest level
are consistently inspired by this philosophy and
serve as a benchmark for each business segment.
The parent company also plays a leading role in
human resources management policy at Group
level.
The Senior Vice-President, Human Resources and
Administration chairs and coordinates the Group
Human Resources Committee, an essential link in
passing on the Group’s values.
The Group’s Human Resources Charter helps to
spread the Group’s culture by reminding everyone
that the company’s development is primarily
dependent on employees.
BOUYGUES • 2011 Registration Document • LEGAL AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION • Chairman's report • 184