Auditor's report
2 www.ahold.com/reports2008
Report on the financial statements
Management's responsibility
Management is responsible for the preparation and fair
presentation of the financial statements in accordance with
International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the
European Union and with Part 9 of Book 2 of the Netherlands
Civil Code, and for the preparation of the information as defined
in 2:391 of the Netherlands Civil Code. 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 fraud or error; selecting and applying appropriate
accounting policies; and making accounting estimates that are
reasonable in the circumstances.
Auditor's responsibility
Opinion with respect to the consolidated financial
statements
Opinion with respect to the parent company
financial statements
Report on other legal and regulatory requirements
Other information
AHOLD ANNUAL REPORT 2008 I 115
To the Shareholders, Supervisory Board and Corporate Executive
Board of Koninklijke Ahold N.V.
We have audited the accompanying financial statements for
the year ended December 28, 2008 of Koninklijke Ahold N.V.,
Zaandam. The financial statements consist of the consolidated
financial statements and the parent company financial
statements. The consolidated financial statements comprise
the consolidated balance sheet as at December 28, 2008,
consolidated income statement, consolidated statement of
comprehensive income, consolidated statement of changes in
equity and consolidated statement of cash flows for the year
then ended, and a summary of significant accounting policies
and other explanatory notes. The parent company financial
statements comprise the parent company balance sheet as at
December 28, 2008, the income statement for the year then
ended and the notes.
Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the financial
statements based on our audit. We conducted our audit in
accordance with Dutch law. This law requires that we comply
with ethical requirements and plan and perform the audit to
obtain reasonable assurance whether the financial statements
are free from material misstatement.
An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit
evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the financial
statements. The procedures selected depend on the auditor's
judgment, including the assessment of the risks of material
misstatement of the financial statements, whether 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 in the
circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an
opinion on the effectiveness of the entity's internal control.
An audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of
accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting
estimates 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 provide a basis for our audit opinion.
In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements give a true
and fair view of the financial position of Koninklijke Ahold N.V.
as at December 28, 2008, and of its result and its cash flow for
the year then ended in accordance with International Financial
Reporting Standards as adopted by the European Union and
with Part 9 of Book 2 of the Netherlands Civil Code.
In our opinion, the parent company financial statements give a
true and fair view of the financial position of Koninklijke Ahold
N.V. as at December 28, 2008, and of its result for the year
then ended in accordance with Part 9 of Book 2 of the
Netherlands Civil Code.
Pursuant to the legal requirement under 2:393 sub 5 part f of
the Netherlands Civil Code, we report, to the extent of our
competence, that the information as defined in 2:391 of the
Netherlands Civil Code as included in the Annual Report 2008
is consistent with the financial statements as required by 2:391
sub 4 of the Netherlands Civil Code.
Deloitte Accountants B.V.
M.R. van Leeuwen
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
February 27, 2009
