BTPLC Annual Report 2005 - Report of the independent auditors

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Report of the independent auditors

United Kingdom Opinion

Independent auditors’ report to the shareholders of BT Group plc

We have audited the financial statements which comprise the group profit and loss account, group and company balance sheets, group cash flow statement, group statement of total recognised gains and losses and the related notes which have been prepared under the historical cost convention and the accounting policies set out in the Accounting Policies. We have also audited the disclosures required by Part 3 of Schedule 7A to the Companies Act 1985 contained in the directors’ remuneration report (“the audited part”).

Respective responsibilities of directors and auditors

The directors’ responsibilities for preparing the annual report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable United Kingdom law and accounting standards are set out in the statement of directors’ responsibilities. The directors are also responsible for preparing the directors’ remuneration report.
     Our responsibility is to audit the financial statements and the audited part of the directors’ remuneration report in accordance with relevant legal and regulatory requirements and United Kingdom Auditing Standards issued by the Auditing Practices Board. This report, including the opinion, has been prepared for and only for the company’s members as a body in accordance with Section 235 of the Companies Act 1985 and for no other purpose. We do not, in giving this opinion, accept or assume responsibility for any other purpose or to any other person to whom this report is shown or into whose hands it may come save where expressly agreed by our prior consent in writing.
     We report to you our opinion as to whether the financial statements give a true and fair view and whether the financial statements and the audited part of the directors’ remuneration report have been properly prepared in accordance with the Companies Act 1985. We also report to you if, in our opinion, the directors’ report is not consistent with the financial statements, if the company has not kept proper accounting records, if we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit, or if information specified by law regarding directors’ remuneration and transactions is not disclosed.
     We read the other information contained in the Annual Report and Form 20-F and consider the implications for our report if we become aware of any apparent misstatements or material inconsistencies with the financial statements. The other information comprises only the Financial headlines, Chairman’s message, Chief Executive’s statement, Operating and financial review, Report of the directors, Corporate governance, the unaudited part of the directors’ remuneration report and Risk factors.
     We review whether the corporate governance statement reflects the company’s compliance with the nine provisions of the 2003 FRC Combined Code specified for our review by the Listing Rules of the Financial Services Authority, and we report if it does not. We are not required to consider whether the board’s statements on internal control cover all risks and controls, or to form an opinion on the effectiveness of the company’s or group’s corporate governance procedures or its risk and control procedures.

Basis of audit opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with auditing standards issued by the Auditing Practices Board. An audit includes examination, on a test basis, of evidence relevant to the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements and the audited part of the directors’ remuneration report. It also includes an assessment of the significant estimates and judgements made by the directors in the preparation of the financial statements, and of whether the accounting policies are appropriate to the company’s circumstances, consistently applied and adequately disclosed.
We planned and performed our audit so as to obtain all the information and explanations which we considered necessary in order to provide us with sufficient evidence to give reasonable assurance that the financial statements and the audited part of the directors’ remuneration report are free from material misstatement, whether caused by fraud or other irregularity or error. In forming our opinion we also evaluated the overall adequacy of the presentation of information in the financial statements.

Opinion

In our opinion: the financial statements give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company and the group at 31 March 2005 and of the profit and cash flows of the group for the year then ended; the financial statements have been properly prepared in accordance with the Companies Act 1985; and those parts of the directors’ remuneration report required by Part 3 of Schedule 7A to the Companies Act 1985 have been properly prepared in accordance with the Companies Act 1985.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors
London
18 May 2005

United States Opinion

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm to the board of directors and shareholders of BT Group plc

In our opinion, the accompanying group profit and loss account, group balance sheet, group cash flow statement, group statement of total recognised gains and losses and the related notes present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of BT Group plc and its subsidiaries at 31 March 2005 and 2004, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended 31 March 2005, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United Kingdom. These financial statements are the responsibility of the group’s management; our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audits. We conducted our audits of these statements in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, and evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
Accounting principles generally accepted in the United Kingdom vary in certain important respects from accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Information relating to the nature and effect of such differences is presented in the United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles section.
As discussed in Note 1 to the financial statements the company changed its method for accounting for the employee benefit trust in 2005.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors
London
18 May 2005

Notes:
(a) The maintenance and integrity of the BT Group plc website is the responsibility of the directors; the work carried out by the auditors does not involve consideration of these matters and, accordingly, the auditors accept no responsibility for any changes that may have occurred to the financial statements since they were initially presented on the website.

(b) Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.