27th Oct 2005 09:00
Joint Announcement by Royal Dutch Shell plc and N.V. Koninklijke NederlandschePetroleum Maatschappij (`Royal Dutch Petroleum Company')Royal Dutch Shell plc retains PricewaterhouseCoopers as its sole audit firmEarly this year it was decided that Royal Dutch Shell plc would move to asingle audit firm. The decision making process has now been completed and uponthe recommendation of the Audit Committee, the Board of Directors of RoyalDutch Shell plc has today announced that it has decided to retainPricewaterhouseCoopers as the sole audit firm for Royal Dutch Shell plc.Going forward PricewaterhouseCoopers will perform the audit and audit relatedservices of the worldwide operations of Royal Dutch Shell plc, provide theaudit opinion on the financial statements and review the quarterly results.The engagement of PricewaterhouseCoopers as the sole auditor will take effecton November 7, 2005. The current joint audit engagement with both KPMG andPricewaterhouseCoopers ends as of that date.KPMG will be resigning as sole auditor of Royal Dutch Petroleum Company and itis intended that PricewaterhouseCoopers will become the auditor of Royal DutchPetroleum Company.The transition process has started and the 2005 Annual Report/20-F of RoyalDutch Shell plc will be audited solely by PricewaterhouseCoopers.CFO Peter Voser said "The choice of a single audit firm for the company isanother step towards simplification and standardisation of our processes. Weare pleased to continue with PricewaterhouseCoopers as our sole auditor. Wealso look forward to working with KPMG as a provider of non-audit services. Wewould like to express our appreciation for the excellent professional servicewe have received from both KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers over the years".MediaUK/USA/International:Stuart Bruseth +44 20 7934 6238Andy Corrigan +44 20 7934 5963Bianca Ruakere +44 20 7934 4323Institutional InvestorsUK:David Lawrence +44 20 793 3856Gerard Paulides +44 20 7934 6287Europe:Bart van der Steenstraten +31 70 377 3996USA:Harold Hatchett +1 212 218 3112ENDROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLCRelated Shares:
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