2.4 Combined non-financial statement of METRO AG

With this chapter, METRO AG fulfils its duty to produce a non-financial statement (NFS) for the holding company, pursuant to §§ 289b–e of the German Commercial Code, and a non-financial group statement, pursuant to §§ 315b–c together with §§ 289c–e of the German Commercial Code, in the form of a consolidated non-financial statement. As a separate chapter, this declaration constitutes a part of the combined management report. Unless stated otherwise, the concepts described here apply to the entire group as well as the holding company. Unless expressly stated otherwise, all presentations in the combined management report refer to continuing operations (excluding the hypermarket business and excluding METRO China). The Management Board of METRO AG is fully involved in all topics presented here and is regularly updated about their progress.

The NFS is integrated in the combined management report. It was produced in consideration of the GRI standards for Corporate Responsibility Reporting and the UN Global Compact. The contents are not subject to statutory of the annual and consolidated financial statements, but are part of the limited assurance business audit according to ISAE 3000 by KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft. The assurance statement of the independent auditor is available at www.metroag.de/cr-report-2018-19/assurance

Business model

Auditing
Also audit. A procedure that assesses an organisation’s processes and structures according to previously formulated standards and guidelines. Audits shed light on the effectiveness of process optimisation measures. If an audit is conducted by an external auditor, the certificate issued after the review can be used as evidence of adherence to standards.
Glossary