Internal Controls
The Euro Disney Group is committed to governance policies and practices that assure shareholder interests are represented in a thoughtful and independent manner. We conduct business in accordance with the highest standards of business ethics and comply with applicable laws, rules and regulations.
Code of Business Conduct
The Group applies the "Standards of Business Conduct" required by TWDC to its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Financial Officer and the Chief Accounting Officer. These standards include guidelines on both ethical and legal business conduct. A copy of this document can be found on the TWDC web site at http://corporate.disney.go.com/.
The Group formalized a Code of Business Conduct (the "Code"), which has been made available to all employees on October 1, 2007. This Code draws its inspiration from the Group's fundamental values of which integrity, honesty, trust, respect, fair play and teamwork. This Code is intended to serve as a reference for the business practices of each employee of the Group. This Code consists of a list of ethical standards as well as a reminder of legal standards. It states a certain number of fundamental principles concerning the Group's relations with its guests, with its employees, with its shareholders, with its partners, suppliers or sub-contractors and with the community at large. This Code was elaborated in respect of the recommendations from the French Commission Nationale Informatique et Libertés and following the usual consulting process of the employees' representatives.
Steering Internal Control
The Group devotes significant resources to the monitoring of compliance with internal control procedures. The departments or functions with primary responsibility for this task are internal audit function, loss prevention, operational audit function, and the business planning and control department.
Conflicts of Interest
To management's knowledge, members of the Executive Committee or of the Supervisory Board:
- Have not been convicted of any fraudulent offences in the previous five years;
- Have not been associated in the previous five years with any bankruptcies, receiverships or liquidations;
- Have not been involved in any official public incrimination and/or sanction by statutory or regulatory authorities (including designated professional bodies);
- Have no family relationship conflicting with their responsibility as members of the Executive Committee or of the Supervisory Board.
Mr. Rasulo and Mr. Staggs are senior executive officers of TWDC and Mr. Geslin is member of the board of directors and member of the audit committee of Calyon, which has been part of the Group's financing, acting both as lender and banks' agent. In order to avoid any potential conflict of interest or confidentiality situations, Mr. Geslin has undertaken to refrain from discussing on any matters which potentially could involve a conflict of interest. Except as aforementioned, to the Group's knowledge, no potential conflicts of interest between any duties of the Group, of the members of the Executive Committee or of the Supervisory Board and their private interests and/or duties exist.
Financial Disclosure Controls
The Company is required to disclose financial information to its shareholders and more generally to the financial markets and the public. Management's objectives with respect to financial disclosures are:
- to provide financial reporting which allows users of that information with a true and fair view of the financial position, results of operations and cash flows of the Group
- to ensure the consistency and quality of the information provided, which is essential to the Group's credibility and compliance with applicable laws
- to adhere to the principle of equal shareholder access to information by controlling the distribution of information through a single centralized source at the Group level.
All financial communications are drafted by the controllership department of the finance division after consultation with the applicable rules or regulations related to the specific document or disclosure. Financial communication documents, including press releases, management reports and financial statements are reviewed by a cross-section of the Group's top management including the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Accounting Officer, Internal Legal Counsel, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications department.
LSF and SOX Compliance
To comply with the LSF and Section 404 of SOX, the Group launched in October 2003 a project to improve its existing process control documentation with the assistance of the accounting firm Ernst & Young. As a Frenchlisted company, the Group was required to provide disclosures concerning its internal control environment and controls for the first time beginning in Fiscal Year 2004. Following its de-registration as a foreign private issuer with the SEC in September 2007, the Group is no longer required to comply with the provisions of Section 404 of SOX. However, as a consolidated subsidiary of TWDC, the Group is required to participate in TWDC's Section 404 of SOX compliance program.
This exercise includes the following: analysis of the Group's financial statements and disclosures to determine the key processes requiring study; a financial and operational risk assessment; establishment of comprehensive documentation of each selected process, the identification and description of key controls and the risks they mitigate; independent testing of the identified key controls for correct design and effectiveness; and remediation of any key controls deemed to need improvement as a result of the tests.