Independent audit report to members of Commonwealth Bank of Australia
Matters relating to the Electronic Presentation of the Audited Concise Financial Report
This audit report relates to the financial report of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (the Bank) for the year ended 30 June 2005 included on the Bank's web site. The Bank's directors are responsible for the integrity of the Bank's web site. We have not been engaged to report on the integrity of the Bank's web site. The audit report refers only to the statements named below. It does not provide an opinion on any other information which may have been hyperlinked to/from these statements. If users of this report are concerned with the inherent risks arising from electronic data communications they are advised to refer to the hard copy of the audited financial report to confirm the information included in the audited financial report presented on this web site.
Scope
The concise financial report and directors' responsibility
The concise financial report comprises the statement of financial position, statement of financial performance, statement of cash flows and accompanying notes to the financial statements for the consolidated Group for the year ended 30 June 2005. The consolidated Group comprises both Commonwealth Bank of Australia and the entities it controlled during the year.
The directors of the Bank are responsible for preparing a concise financial report and the additional disclosures in accordance with AASB 1046 'Director and Executive Disclosures by Disclosing Entities' on pages 33 to 45, included in the directors' report designated as audited, that complies with Accounting Standard AASB 1039 'Concise Financial Reports', in accordance with the Corporations Act 2001. This includes responsibility for the maintenance of adequate accounting records and internal controls that are designed to prevent and detect fraud and error, and for the accounting policies and accounting estimates inherent in the concise financial report and the additional disclosures.
Audit approach
We conducted an independent audit on the concise financial report and the additional disclosures in order to express an opinion on it to the members of the Bank. Our audit was conducted in accordance with Australian Auditing Standards in order to provide reasonable assurance as to whether the concise financial report and additional disclosures are free of material misstatement. The nature of an audit is influenced by factors such as the use of professional judgement, selective testing, the inherent limitations of internal control, and the availability of persuasive rather than conclusive evidence. Therefore, an audit cannot guarantee that all material misstatements have been detected.
We performed procedures to assess whether in all material respects the concise financial report and additional disclosures are presented fairly in accordance with Accounting Standard AASB 1039 'Concise Financial Reports'. We formed our audit opinion on the basis of these procedures, which included:
- testing that the information in the concise financial report and additional disclosures are consistent with the full financial report, and
- examining, on a test basis, information to provide evidence supporting the amounts, discussion and analysis, and other disclosures in the concise financial report and additional disclosures that were not directly derived from the full financial report.
We have also performed an independent audit of the full financial report of the Bank for the year ended 30 June 2005. Our audit report on the full financial report was signed on 10 August 2005, and was not subject to any qualification. For a better understanding of our approach to the audit of the full financial report, this report should be read in conjunction with our audit report on the full financial report.
Independence
We are independent of the Bank, and have met the independence requirements of Australian professional ethical pronouncements and the Corporations Act 2001. We have given to the directors of the Bank a written Auditor's Independence declaration, a copy of which is included in the directors' report. In addition to our audit of the financial report, we were engaged to undertake the services disclosed in the notes to the financial statements. The provision of these services has not impaired our independence.
Audit opinion
In our opinion, the concise financial report and additional disclosures included in the directors' report designated as audited, of Commonwealth Bank of Australia complies with Accounting Standard AASB 1039 'Concise Financial Reports'.
Ernst & Young
Sydney
S J Ferguson
Partner
10 August 2005