Independent Auditors Report to the Shareholders
We have audited the accompanying financial statements of ANSA Merchant Bank Limited and its Subsidiaries which comprise the consolidated balance sheet as at 31st December, 2006 and the consolidated statement of income, consolidate statement of changes in equity and consolidated statemetn of cash flows fo rthe year then ended, and a summary of significant accounting policies and other explanatory notes.
Management’s Responsibility for the Financial Statements
Managment is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of these financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards. This responsibility includes: designing, implementing and maintaining internal control relevant to the preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fruad or error; selecting and applying appropriate accounting policies; and making accounting estimates that are reasonable in the circumstances.
Auditor’s Responsibility
Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit. We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing. Those standards require that we comply with ethical requirements and plan and peform the audit to obtain reasonable aassurance whether the financial statements are free from material misstatement.
An audit invloves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The procedures selected depend on the auditors’ judgement, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the financal statements, wheter due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments, the auditor considers internal control relevant to the entity’s preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate for the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the entityt’s interal control. An audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of accounting poliicies aused and the reasonableness of accounting estimantes made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements.
We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to privide a basis for our audit opinion.
Opinion
In our opinion, the consolidated financial staements give a true and fair view of the financial position of the Company as of 31st December, 2006 and of its financial performance and its cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with International Financial Standards.
Ernst & Young
Port of Spain,
TRINIDAD:
29th March, 2007