AAK Annual Report 2019

124 Responsibilities of the Board of Directors and the Chief Executive Officer The Board of Directors and the Chief Executive Officer are responsible for the preparation of the annual accounts and consolidated accounts and that they give a fair presentation in accordance with the Annual Accounts Act and, concerning the consolidated accounts, in accordance with IFRS as adopted by the EU. The Board of Directors and the Chief Executive Officer are also responsible for such internal control as they determine is necessary to enable the preparation of annual accounts and consolidated accounts that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. In preparing the annual accounts and consolidated accounts, the Board of Directors and the Chief Execu- tive Officer are responsible for the assessment of the company’s and the Group’s ability to continue as a going concern. They disclose, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting. The going concern basis of accounting is however not applied if the Board of Direc- tors and the Chief Executive Officer intend to liquidate the company, to cease operations, or has no realistic alternative but to do so. The Audit Committee shall, without prejudice to the Board of Directors’ responsibilities and tasks in general, among other things oversee the company’s financial reporting process. Auditor’s responsibility Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the annual accounts and consolidated accounts as a whole are free from material misstate- ment, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinions. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guar- antee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs and generally accepted auditing standards in Sweden will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggre- gate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these annual accounts and consolidated accounts. A further description of our responsibility for the audit of the annual accounts and consolidated accounts is available on Revisorsinspektionen’s website: www.revisorsinspektionen.se/revisornsansvar. This description is part of the auditor’s report. Report on other legal and regulatory requirements Opinions In addition to our audit of the annual accounts and consolidated accounts, we have also audited the administration of the Board of Directors and the Chief Executive Officer of AAK AB for the year 2019 and the proposed appropriations of the company’s profit or loss. We recommend to the general meeting of shareholders that the profit be appropriated in accordance with the proposal in the statutory administration report and that the members of the Board of Directors and the Chief Executive Officer be discharged from liability for the financial year. Basis for opinions We conducted the audit in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards in Sweden. Our responsi- bilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibility section. We are independent of the Parent company and the Group in accordance with professional ethics for accountants in Sweden and have otherwise fulfilled our ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinions. Responsibilities of the Board of Directors and the Chief Executive Officer The Board of Directors is responsible for the proposal for appropriations of the company’s profit or loss. At the proposal of a dividend, this includes an assessment of whether the dividend is justifiable considering the requirements which the company’s and the Group’s type of operations, size and risks place on the size of the Parent company’s and the Group’s equity, consolidation requirements, liquidity and position in general.