Operations Review Directors and Other Information Report of the Directors Statement of Directors' Responsibilities Report of the Auditors Principal Accounting Policies Profit and Loss Account Balance Sheet Cash Flow Statement Notes to the Financial Statements
  1. PAYROLL AND RELATED COSTS
  2. (A) MATERIALS AND SERVICES (B) EXCEPTIONAL ITEM
  3. DEPRECIATION AND LOSS ON DISPOSAL OF TANGIBLE ASSETS
  4. TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS
  5. STOCKS
  6. DEBTORS
  7. CREDITORS
  8. PROVISIONS FOR LIABILITIES AND CHARGES
  9. DEFERRED INCOME
  10. SHARE CAPITAL
  11. ASSET REPLACEMENT RESERVE
  12. RECONCILIATION OF MOVEMENT IN SHAREHOLDERS’ FUNDS
  13. CASH FLOW STATEMENT
  14. OPERATING LEASE OBLIGATIONS
  15. PENSIONS
  16. CAPITAL COMMITMENTS
  17. CONTINGENT LIABILITIES
  18. NET SURPLUS/DEFICIT BY ACTIVITY
  19. RELATED PARTIES
  20. PUBLIC SERVICE OBLIGATION PAYMENT
  21. MEMBERSHIP OF CÓRAS IOMPAIR ÉIREANN GROUP
  22. APPROVAL OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Report of the Auditors

Independent Auditors’ Report to the Members of Bus Éireann
We have audited the financial statements. These financial statements have been prepared under the accounting policies set out in the statement of accounting policies.

Respective responsibilities of directors and auditors
The directors’ responsibilities for preparing the Directors’ Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable Irish law and the accounting standards issued by the Accounting Standards Board and published by The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (Generally Accepted Accounting Practice in Ireland) are set out in the Statement of Directors’ Responsibilities.

Our responsibility is to audit the financial statements in accordance with relevant legal and regulatory requirements and International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland). This report, including the opinion, has been prepared for and only for the company’s members as a body in accordance with Section 193 of the Companies Act, 1990 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, in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Practice in Ireland, and are properly prepared in accordance with Irish statute comprising the Companies Acts, 1963 to 2009. We state whether we have obtained all the information and explanations we consider necessary for the purposes of our audit and whether the financial statements are in agreement with the books of account. We also report to you our opinion as to:

  • whether the company has kept proper books of account;
  • whether the directors’ report is consistent with the financial statements; and
  • whether at the balance sheet date there existed a financial situation which may require the company to convene an extraordinary general meeting; such a financial situation may exist if the net assets of the company, as stated in the balance sheet, are not more than half of its called-up share capital.

We also report to you if, in our opinion, any information specified by law regarding directors’ remuneration and directors’ transactions is not disclosed and, where practicable, include such information in our report.

We read the directors’ report and consider the implications for our report if we become aware of any apparent misstatements within it. Our responsibilities do not extend to any other information.

Basis of Audit Opinion
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland) 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. It also includes an assessment of the significant estimates and judgments 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 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, in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Practice in Ireland, of the state of the company’s affairs as at 31 December 2008 and of its loss and cash flows for the period then ended; and
  • have been properly prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Acts, 1963 to 2009.

We have obtained all the information and explanations which we consider necessary for the purposes of our audit. In our opinion proper books of account have been kept by the company. The financial statements are in agreement with the books of account.

In our opinion the information given in the directors’ report is consistent with the financial statements.

The net assets of the company, as stated in the balance sheet, are more than half of the amount of its called up share capital and, in our opinion, on that basis there did not exist at 31st December, 2008, a financial situation which, under Section 40(1) of the Companies (Amendment) Act, 1983, would require the convening of an extraordinary general meeting of the company.



PricewaterhouseCoopers,
Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors,
Dublin, Ireland.

24th August 2009