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Verification and Assurance

To the management of Man Group plc
We have been asked to review Man Group’s 2007 Corporate Responsibility Report in accordance with the scope of work agreed with Man Group’s management, and described below.

The scope of our work
    Our approach entailed six phases, which covered a six month period. Given the relatively compact Man Corporate Responsibility team, this enabled much of the initial review and stakeholder interviews to have been undertaken before the year-end. These phases were as follows:
  • Phase 1 – Provide a critical review of Man’s 2006 Corporate Responsibility Report and its summary included in the Annual Report, to identify scope for improvement in the 2007 versions of these reports (Autumn 2006)
  • Phase 2 – Telephone interview key external stakeholders about their views on the 2006 Corporate Responsibility Report and their satisfaction with its ability to address the issues they regard as important for Man Group (Winter 2006)
  • Phase 3 – Use inputs from the external stakeholder research to advise the corporate responsibility management on corporate responsibility related questions to be included in the questionnaire for an internet survey amongst global staff of attitudes towards current corporate responsibility activities (Winter 2006)
  • Phase 5 – Conduct a mixture of telephone and face-to-face interviews with members of the Corporate Responsibility Committee, and relevant functional managers. Review data collation methods and evaluate calculation methods where used e.g., for environmental data (Early Spring 2007)
  • Phase 6 – Complete the internal management commentary and the external accreditation statement for publication (Late Spring 2007)

Our approach to this work
In developing our approach, we have been mindful of the key principles of providing assurance identified as part of Accountability’s AA1000 Assurance Standard – Materiality; Completeness; and Responsiveness. Given the early stages of Man’s corporate responsibility development, the Company decided against using the Global Reporting Initiative as the basis for the 2007 Report but may consider this as an option for future years’ reporting.

    Our approach was designed to ensure that we would:
  • Focus on the accuracy and reliability of the data
  • Offer opinions on strengths and weaknesses
  • Draw conclusions about the Report’s scope (including the extent to which its content could be considered material to internal and external stakeholders) and detail any concerns about aspects of the Company’s sustainability performance
    As part of this approach, we undertook the following actions:
  • We interviewed a selection of Man’s managers responsible for aspects covered in the sections of the report to understand the current status of progress against corporate responsibility objectives and the mechanisms for measuring progress
  • We interviewed a selection of external stakeholders to understand their views on Man’s corporate responsibility activities and to understand any areas which they considered as material and where they considered Man could be more active in corporate responsibility matters
  • We supported Man’s management in their development of their employee survey to ensure the questions relating to corporate responsibility gave sufficient evidence of the views of the employees regarding the implementation of the Corporate Responsibility Programme throughout the Man Group, and the extent to which they regarded it as being material to their opinion of Man and its activities
  • We reviewed relevant documentation, such as guidance documents, status reports, meeting minutes (e.g., the Corporate Responsibility Committee), internal spreadsheets and supporting documentation from third parties (e.g., regarding the Carbon Offset Programme) to ensure there was consistency with claims made in this Report
  • We assessed the range of data that has been collated as part of the development of the information included within this Report
  • The Virtuous Circle has not been involved in the Man Group Corporate Responsibility Strategy or the preparation of any of the material in the Report
    We undertook our evaluation of this report to ensure ourselves that:
  • Man Group’s 2007 Corporate Responsibility Report presents a fair and balanced representation of the progress that the Company has made in the period 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007, and that there are processes in place for identifying and managing corporate responsibility issues
  • The Report covers the key corporate responsibility matters raised in our discussions with internal and external stakeholders (including comments raised within the responses to the employees’ survey) as well as considering any comments made in the media about the hedge fund industry
  • Those actions identified in the 2006 Report have been acted upon and commented on in the 2007 Report
  • The data presented in tables within the Report have been correctly transferred from the relevant company level data records
  • Corporate responsibility initiatives that commenced in 2006/07 and reported upon in this Report were substantial and of sufficient importance to merit inclusion for comment in this Report
  • No material information has been withheld
The limitations of our activity
    We only interviewed Man management in the UK. The data in the report is collated centrally in London. It is derived from sources such as:
  • Its audited general ledger
  • Its PeopleSoft HR system
  • Third party suppliers (such as travel agencies)
  • Local operations submitting their own data

We were able to establish a high level of confidence in the accuracy of the information used in the report, based on the systems and procedures that we reviewed.

We only assessed the completeness of data presented in tables by reviewing the data presented to the central Corporate Responsibility team from the individual operations. As such we have not been able to draw conclusions on the data accuracy and completeness, based on reviewing the original data sources.

Man Group’s management has prepared the Report and are responsible for the collection and presentation of information within it. Our responsibility in performing our work is to Man Group’s management only in accordance with the scope of work agreed with them, and not to any other person or organisation.