CITIZENS DEVELOPMENT BUSINESS FINANCE PLC

ANNUAL REPORT 2020/21

Sustainability assurance report

GRI 102-56

INDEPENDENT ASSURANCE REPORT TO CITIZENS DEVELOPMENT BUSINESS FINANCE PLC

We have been engaged by the Directors of Citizens Development Business Finance PLC (“the Company”) to provide reasonable assurance and limited assurance in respect of the Sustainability Indicators as identified below for the year ended 31 March 2021. The Sustainability Indicators are included in the Citizens Development Business Finance PLC’s Integrated Annual Report for the year ended 31 March 2021 (the “Report”).

The Reasonable Assurance Sustainability Indicators covered by our reasonable assurance engagement are:

Assured Sustainability Indicators Integrated Annual Report Page
Financial Highlights 133 - 134

The Limited Assurance Sustainability Indicators covered
by our limited assurance engagement are:

Limited Assurance Sustainability Indicators Integrated Annual Report Page
Non-Financial Highlights 14 - 15
Information provided on following
Customers 41 - 50
CDB Team 51 - 55
Environment 56 - 63
Society 64 - 66
Regulator 67 - 69
Business Partners 70 - 73
Investors 74 - 81

Our conclusions

Our conclusion has been formed on the basis of, and is subject to, the matters outlined in this report. We believe that the evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our conclusions.

Reasonable Assurance Sustainability Indicators

In our opinion, the Reasonable Assurance Sustainability Indicators, as defined above, for the year ended 31 March 2021 are, in all material respects, prepared and presented in accordance with the Consolidated Set of Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Reporting Standards Guidelines.

Limited Assurance Sustainability Indicators

Based on the limited assurance procedures performed and the evidence obtained, as described below, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the Limited Assurance Sustainability Indicators, as defined above, for the year ended 31 March 2021, have not in all material respects, been prepared and presented in accordance with the Consolidated Set of Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Reporting Standards Guidelines.

Management's Responsibility

Management is responsible for the preparation and presentation of the Reasonable Assurance Sustainability Indicators and the Limited Assurance Sustainability Indicators in accordance with the Consolidated Set of Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Reporting Standards Guidelines.

These responsibilities includes establishing such internal controls as management determines are necessary to enable the preparation of the Reasonable Assurance Sustainability Indicators and the Limited Assurance Sustainability Indicators that are free from material misstatement whether due to fraud or error.

Management is responsible for preventing and detecting fraud and for identifying and ensuring that the Company complies with laws and regulations applicable to its activities.

Management is also responsible for ensuring that staff involved with the preparation and presentation of the description and Report are properly trained, information systems are properly updated and that any changes in reporting encompass all significant business units.

Our responsibility

Our responsibility is to express a reasonable assurance conclusion on the Company’s preparation and presentation of the Reasonable Assurance Sustainability Indicators and a limited assurance conclusion on the preparation and presentation of the Limited Assurance Sustainability Indicators included in the Report, as defined above.

We conducted our assurance engagement in accordance with Sri Lanka Standard on Assurance Engagements SLSAE 3000: Assurance Engagements other than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information (SLSAE 3000) issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka.

We have complied with the independence and other ethical requirements of the Code of Ethics issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka.

SLSAE 3000 requires that we plan and perform the engagement to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the Reasonable Assurance Sustainability Indicators are free from material misstatement and limited assurance about whether the Limited Assurance Sustainability Indicators are free from material misstatement.

Reasonable assurance over Reasonable Assurance Sustainability Indicators

The procedures selected in our reasonable assurance engagement depend on our judgment, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the Reasonable Assurance Sustainability Indicators whether due to fraud or error.

In making those risk assessments, we have considered internal control relevant to the preparation and presentation of the Reasonable Assurance Sustainability Indicators in order to design assurance procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purposes of expressing a conclusion as to the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over the preparation and presentation of the Report.

Our engagement also included assessing the appropriateness of the Reasonable Assurance Sustainability Indicators, the suitability of the criteria, being the Consolidated Set of Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Reporting Standards Guidelines, used by the Company in preparing and presenting the Reasonable Assurance Sustainability Indicators within the Report, obtaining an understanding of the compilation of the financial and non-financial information to the sources from which it was obtained, evaluating the reasonableness of estimates made by the Company, and re-computation of the calculations of the Reasonable Assurance Sustainability Indicators.

Limited assurance on the Assured Sustainability Indicators

Our limited assurance engagement on the Limited Assurance Sustainability Indicators consisted of making enquiries, primarily of persons responsible for the preparation of the Limited Assurance Sustainability Indicators, and applying analytical and other procedures, as appropriate. These procedures included:

  • interviews with senior management and relevant staff at corporate and selected site level concerning sustainability strategy and policies for material issues, and the implementation of these across the business;
  • enquiries of management to gain an understanding of the Company’s processes for determining material issues for the Company’s key stakeholder groups;
  • enquiries of relevant staff at corporate and selected site level responsible for the preparation of the Limited Assurance Sustainability Indicators;
  • enquiries about the design and implementation of the systems and methods used to collect and report the Limited Assurance Sustainability Indicators, including the aggregation of the reported information;
  • comparing the Limited Assurance Sustainability Indicators to relevant underlying sources on a sample basis to determine whether all the relevant information has been appropriately included in the Report;
  • reading the Limited Assurance Sustainability Indicators presented in the Report to determine whether they are in line with our overall knowledge of, and experience with, the sustainability performance of the Company;
  • reading the remainder of the Report to determine whether there are any material misstatements of fact or material inconsistencies based on our understanding obtained as part of our assurance engagement.

The procedures performed in a limited assurance engagement vary in nature and timing from, and are less in extent than for, a reasonable assurance engagement, and consequently the level of assurance obtained in a limited assurance engagement is substantially lower than the assurance that would have been obtained had a reasonable assurance engagement been performed. Accordingly, we do not express a reasonable assurance conclusion on the Limited Assurance Sustainability Indicators.

Purpose of our report

In accordance with the terms of our engagement, this assurance report has been prepared for the Company for the purpose of assisting the Directors in determining whether the Company’s Reasonable and Limited Assurance Sustainability Indicators are prepared and presented in accordance with the Consolidated Set of Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Reporting Standards Guidelines and for no other purpose or in any other context.

Restriction of use of our report

Our report should not be regarded as suitable to be used or relied on by any party wishing to acquire rights against us other than the Company, for any purpose or in any other context. Any party other than the Company who obtains access to our report or a copy thereof and chooses to rely on our report (or any part thereof) will do so at its own risk. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we accept or assume no responsibility and deny any liability to any party other than the Company for our work, for this independent assurance report, or for the conclusions we have reached.

CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS

Colombo
10th June 2021

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