Sarbanes-Oxley Act section 404
As a consequence of our listing on the New York Stock Exchange, AstraZeneca is required to comply with those provisions of the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act applicable to foreign issuers. Section 404 of this legislation requires companies annually to assess and make public statements about the quality and effectiveness of their internal control over financial reporting.
Our approach to the assessment has been to select key transaction and financial reporting processes in our largest operating units and a number of specialist areas such as financial consolidation and reporting, treasury operations and taxation so that, in aggregate, we have covered a significant proportion of each of the key line items in our Financial Statements. Each of these operating units and specialist areas has ensured that its relevant processes and controls are documented to appropriate standards, taking into account, in particular, the guidance provided by the Securities and Exchange Commission. We have also reviewed the structure and operation of our ‘entity level’ control environment. This refers to the overarching control environment, including structure of reviews, checks and balances that are essential to the management of a well controlled business.
The Directors have concluded that our internal control over financial reporting is effective as at 31 December 2007. KPMG Audit Plc have audited the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting and their report is unqualified.
