Other information
156
Report on other legal and regulatory requirements
Ahold at a glance
Business review
Governance
Financials
Ahold
Annual Report 2014
Employee benefit plan measurement
The group has defined benefit plans in the Netherlands and the United States, giving rise to defined benefit
obligations of €4 billion and €1.3 billion, respectively Note 23). This area was important to our audit because of the
magnitude of the amounts, the judgment involved (for example concerning salary increases, inflation, discount rates
and mortality) and technical expertise required to determine these amounts and the impact of the plan amendments
discussed in Note 23.
The group also has a significant number of union employees in the United States whose pension benefits are covered
by multi-employer plans (we also refer to the risk factor on pension plan funding on page 55 of the annual report).
In Note 23 the group disclosed an overview of its possible proportionate share of the total net deficit or surplus in
these plans.
Responsibilities of the Management Board and the Supervisory Board
The Management Board is responsible for:
Our procedures included, amongst others, evaluating the actuarial and demographic assumptions and valuation
methodologies used by the group to assess the company's various pension obligations. We assessed whether the key
actuarial assumptions are reasonable and fall within an acceptable bandwidth. We validated that assumptions are
consistently applied and that changes to the Dutch pension plan, as disclosed in Note 23 are appropriately
accounted for. We involved our pension experts to assist us in these procedures. We tested management's controls
over payroll data and reconciled the membership census data used in the actuarial models to the payroll data of the
group. We also assessed the accounting for the plan amendments and disclosures.
In addition, we evaluated the adequacy of the disclosed proportionate share of the total net deficit or surplus under
the multi-employer plans in the United States. We reconciled the related inputs of this disclosure to supporting
documentation such as audited plan information and actuarial calculations.
a the preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements in accordance with EU-IFRS and with Part 9 of Book 2 of the Dutch Civil Code, and for the preparation of the Management Report in accordance with Part 9
of Book 2 of the Dutch Civil Code; and for
a such internal control as the Management Board determines is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
As part of the preparation of the financial statements, the Management Board is responsible for assessing the company's ability to continue as a going concern. Based on the financial reporting frameworks mentioned, the
Management Board should prepare the financial statements using the going concern basis of accounting unless the Management Board either intends to liquidate the company or to cease operations, or has no realistic
alternative but to do so. The Management Board should disclose events and circumstances that may cast significant doubt on the company's ability to continue as a going concern in the financial statements.
The Supervisory Board is responsible for overseeing the company's financial reporting process.
Our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements
Our responsibility is to plan and perform an audit engagement to obtain sufficient and appropriate audit evidence to provide a basis for our opinion. Our audit has been performed with a high but not absolute level of
assurance which makes it possible that we did not detect all frauds or errors.
A more detailed description of our responsibilities is set out in the appendix to our report.
Our report on the Management Report and the other information
Pursuant to the legal requirements of Part 9 of Book 2 of the Dutch Civil Code (concerning our obligation to report about the Management Report and other information):
a We have no deficiencies to report as a result of our examination whether the Management Report, to the extent we can assess, has been prepared in accordance with Part 9 of Book 2 of this Code, and whether the
information as required by Part 9 of Book 2 of the Dutch Civil Code has been annexed.
a We report that the Management Report, to the extent we can assess, is consistent with the financial statements.
Our appointment
We were appointed as auditors of Koninklijke Ahold N.V. by the Supervisory Board following the passing of a resolution by the shareholders at the general meeting held on April 17 2013.
Amsterdam, February 25, 2015
PricewaterhouseCoopers Accountants N.V.
PJ. van Mierlo RA
