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Limited assurance report of the independent auditor on the sustainability information in the Integrated Annual Report 2023/2024

To: the general meeting and Supervisory Board of Coöperatief Deloitte U.A.

Our conclusion

We have examined the sustainability information in the Integrated Annual Report 2023/2024 of Coöperatief Deloitte U.A. based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Based on the procedures performed and the assurance information obtained, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the sustainability information in the accompanying Integrated Annual Report 2023/2024 does not present fairly, in all material respects:

  • the policy with regard to sustainability matters; and

  • the business operations, events and achievements in that area in 2023/2024

in accordance with the applicable criteria as included in the ‘Criteria’ section of our report.

An overview of the sustainability information in the Integrated Annual Report 2023/2024 is included in the ESRS Content Index in Annex 3 which refers to the pages and paragraphs that contain the sustainability information. Our limited assurance scope excludes the paragraph ‘EU Taxonomy’ included in chapter ‘1. Basis of preparation’ in Annex 2 of the Integrated Annual Report 2023/2024. 

Basis for our conclusion

We performed our limited assurance engagement on the Sustainability information in accordance with Dutch law, including Dutch Standard 3810N ‘Assurance-opdrachten inzake duurzaamheidsverslaggeving’ (Assurance engagements relating to sustainability reports), which is a specified Dutch Standard that is based on the International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000 ‘Assurance engagements other than audits or reviews of historical financial information’. This engagement is aimed to obtain limited assurance. Our responsibilities under this standard are further described in the ‘Our responsibilities for the assurance engagement on the sustainability information’ section of our report.

We are independent of Coöperatief Deloitte U.A. in accordance with the ‘Verordening inzake de onafhankelijkheid van accountants bij assurance-opdrachten’ (ViO, Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants, a regulation with respect to independence) and other relevant independence regulations in The Netherlands. Furthermore we have complied with the ‘Verordening gedrags- en beroepsregels accountants’ (VGBA, Dutch code of ethics for Professional Accountants).

We believe that the assurance evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our conclusion.

Criteria

The reporting criteria applied for the preparation of the sustainability information are the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) as set out in the Annex 1 to the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2772 of July 31, 2023 supplementing Directive 2013/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards sustainability reporting standards, the ESRS as listed in the ESRS Content Index disclosed on page 200 of the Integrated Annual Report 2023/2024.

The comparability of sustainability information between entities and over time may be affected by the absence of a uniform practice on which to draw, to evaluate and measure this information. This allows for the application of different, but acceptable, measurement techniques.

Consequently, the sustainability information needs to be read and understood together with the criteria applied.

Limitations to the scope of our assurance engagement

The sustainability information includes prospective information such as ambitions, strategy, plans, expectations and estimates and risk assessments. Prospective information relates to events and actions that have not yet occurred and may never occur. Therefore, it’s inherent to prospective information, that the actual future results are uncertain. We do not provide any assurance on the assumptions and achievability of this prospective information in the sustainability information.

The references to external sources or websites in the sustainability information are not part of the sustainability information as included in the scope of our assurance engagement. We therefore do not provide assurance on this information.

Our conclusion is not modified in respect of these matters.

Responsibilities of the Management and the Supervisory Board for the sustainability information

The Management Board is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of Sustainability information in accordance with the applicable criteria, including the identification of stakeholders and the definition of material matters. The Management Board is also responsible for selecting and applying the criteria and for determining that these criteria are suitable fort the legitimate information needs of stakeholders, considering applicable law and regulations related to reporting. The choices made by the Management Board regarding the scope of the sustainability information and the reporting policy are summarized in the chapter ‘1. Basis of preparation’ in Annex 2 of the sustainability information. 

Furthermore, the Management Board is responsible for such internal control as it determines is necessary to enable the preparation of the sustainability information that is free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

The Supervisory Board is responsible for overseeing the sustainability reporting process of Coöperatief Deloitte U.A.

Our responsibilities for the assurance engagement on the sustainability information

Our responsibility is to plan and perform the assurance engagement in a manner that allows us to obtain sufficient and appropriate assurance evidence for our conclusion.

Our assurance engagement is aimed to obtain a limited level of assurance to determine the plausibility of information. The procedures vary in nature and timing from, and are less in extent as compared to reasonable assurance engagements. The level of assurance obtained in a limited assurance engagement is therefore substantially less than the assurance that is obtained when a reasonable assurance engagement is performed.

We apply the ‘Nadere voorschriften kwaliteitssystemen’ (NVKS, Regulations for quality management systems) and accordingly maintain a comprehensive system of quality management including documented policies and procedures regarding compliance with ethical requirements, professional standards and other relevant legal and regulatory requirements.

Our limited assurance engagement included among others:

  • performing an analysis of the external environment and obtaining an understanding of relevant sustainability themes and issues, and the characteristics of the company;

  • evaluating the appropriateness of the criteria applied, their consistent application and related disclosures in the sustainability information. This includes evaluating the results of the company’s materiality assessment and the reasonableness of estimates made by the Management Board;

  • obtaining through inquiries a general understanding of the control environment, the reporting processes, information systems and the entity’s risk assessment process relevant to the preparation of the sustainability information, without obtaining assurance information about the implementation or testing the operating effectiveness of controls;

  • identifying areas of the sustainability information where misleading or unbalanced information or a material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, is likely to arise. Designing and performing further assurance procedures aimed at determining the plausibility of the sustainability information responsive to this risk analysis. These procedures consisted amongst others of:

    • obtaining inquiries from management (and/or relevant staff) responsible for the sustainability strategy, policy and results;

    • taking note of the minutes of the meetings of the Board, the other persons charged with governance and of other meetings that are relevant to the content of the sustainability reporting;

    • obtaining inquiries from relevant staff responsible for providing the information for, carrying out internal control procedures on, and consolidating the data in the sustainability information;

    • obtaining assurance evidence that the sustainability information reconciles with underlying records of the company;

    • reviewing, on a limited test basis, relevant internal and external documentation, to determine the reliability of the sustainability information;

    • evaluating data and trends;

  • reconciling the relevant financial information with the financial statements;

  • reading the information in the Integrated Annual Report 2023/2024 which is not included in the scope of our assurance engagement to identify material inconsistencies, if any, with the sustainability information;

  • considering the overall presentation and balanced content of the sustainability information;

  • considering whether the sustainability information as a whole, including the sustainability matters and disclosures, is clearly and adequately disclosed in accordance with applicable criteria.

We communicate with the Supervisory Board regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the assurance engagement and significant findings that we identify during our assurance engagement.

Rotterdam, July 18, 2024

For and on behalf of BDO Audit & Assurance B.V.,

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Drs. A. Thomson RA

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