Audit of consolidated financial statements
All consolidated financial statements of companies that exceed the thresholds for statutory audits also need to be accompanied by an audit opinion. These consolidated financial statements are audited by the parent company’s auditor or another auditor appointed by the general meeting of shareholders. However, it is common practice that the statutory auditor of the parent company also renders an opinion on the consolidated financial statements.
The auditor's report and audit procedures are based on the standards issued by the IBR/IRE ( Normen inzake de certificatie van de geconsolideerde jaarrekening / Normes relatives à la certification des comptes annuels consolidés). Furthermore, Deloitte applies International Auditing Standards (ISA), which are not yet endorsed by the IBR/IRE.
Some parent companies are exempt from the consolidation requirement, due to the fact that their financial statements and those of all their subsidiaries are included in the consolidated financial statements of their parent or ultimate parent company, provided that these parent or ultimate parent consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with the seventh EC-Directive or equivalent. In this case, there is no need for a separate audit in Belgium. However, the audit opinion of the parent or ultimate parent company needs to be filed together with the consolidated financial statements at the Central Balance Sheet office in the language (languages) in which the exempted company published their statutory annual accounts.
The auditor is appointed for a term of three accounting periods by the general meeting of shareholders, upon proposal by the board of directors and after approval by the works council (where applicable). The auditor's remuneration must be approved by the shareholders’ meeting.
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