La banque d'un monde qui change 2004 - BNP Paribas

148report of the chairman149Human resourcesAs of 31 December 2004, the BNP ParibasGroup had a total of 863 full time equivalentemployees in the Internal Audit and GeneralInspection functions, 383 in the Ethics function(an increase of 29% compared with the previousyear), and 793 in the Group Risk Managementfunction as a whole, including 57 in theOperational Risk function.III – Limitation of the powersof the Chief Executive OfficerThe Chief Executive Officer has the broadestpowers to act in all circumstances in the nameof BNP Paribas and to represent the Bank in itsdealings with third parties. He exercises thesepowers within the limits of the corporate purpose,and subject to those powers expressly reservedby law for shareholder meetings and forthe Board of Directors.Within the Group, the internal rules of the Boardof Directors require the Chief Executive Officerto submit to the Board for prior approval anyinvestment decision of more than EUR 250 million,and any proposed acquisition or divestmentof equity interests of more than EUR 250 million.IV – Internal Control proceduresrelating to the preparationand processing of accountingand financial informationRoles and responsibilities regarding the preparationand processing of accounting and financial informationThe preparation and processing of accountingand financial information are the responsibilityof the Group Finance-Development function,whose roles include:• production and quality control of financialstatements;• production and quality control of managementschedules, and provision of forecast figuresfor strategic management purposes;• control over the Group’s financial informationsystems.These roles are performed at a number of levels:at Group level by the Group Finance-Developmentfunction, at core business level by the corebusiness Finance function, and within each entityThe allocation of these roles is described in thecharter drawn up by the Finance-Developmentfunction.The heads of finance of the core businessesand of the main entities have operational linesof reporting to the Group Head of Finance.Accounting policies and rulesThe accounting policies and rules applied by Groupentities in preparing accounting informationare drafted and updated by the central GroupGeneral Accounting Department. These policiesand rules comply with French generally acceptedaccounting principles.As from January 2005, the Group’s consolidatedfinancial statements will be prepared inaccordance with the International FinancialReporting Standards adopted by the EuropeanUnion. The Group chose to prepare and publishits 2004 annual results in accordance with FrenchGAAP in the ordinary timescale, rather thanwaiting until the completion of work relating to