Our financial reporting takes place according to the rules issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, London.

Effective internal monitoring procedures instituted by Group management at the consolidated companies along with appropriate staff training ensure the propriety of our reporting and its compliance with legal provisions. Integrity and social responsibility form the basis of our corporate principles and of their application in areas such as environmental protection, quality, product safety, plant safety and adherence to local laws and regulations. The worldwide implementation of these principles and the reliability and effectiveness of the monitoring procedures are continuously verified by our Corporate Auditing Department.

These measures in conjunction with a uniform reporting system throughout the Group ensure that Group companies present the management with an accurate view of their business operations, enabling us to discern risks to our assets or fluctuations in the economic performances of Group companies at an early stage and at the same time providing a reliable basis for the consolidated financial statements and management report.

The Board of Management conducts the business of the Group in the interests of the stockholders and in awareness of its responsibilities toward employees, communities and the environment in all the countries in which we operate. Our declared aim is to deploy the resources entrusted to us in order to increase the value of the Bayer Group as a whole.

In accordance with the resolution of the Annual Stockholders’ Meeting, the Supervisory Board appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers Aktiengesellschaft Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft as the independent auditor of the consolidated financial statements and of the statements’ compliance with the International Financial Reporting Standards. The scope of the auditor’s report, which appears on the following page, also includes Bayer’s risk management system, audited in light of the German Law on Corporate Supervision and Transparency. The consolidated financial statements, the management report and the auditor’s report were discussed in detail, in the presence of the auditor, by the Audit Committee of the Supervisory Board and at a plenary meeting of the Supervisory Board. See Report of the Supervisory Board.

The Board of Management