The introduction of IFRS brings to an end the application of various sets of national accounting standards by listed companies in the different member states. For AEGON, this means that it no longer applies Dutch Accounting Principles (DAP) to its financial statements. All the numbers in the financial statements in this annual report, including the 2004 comparative numbers, are now based on IFRS. In previous annual reports, historical data covering an 11-year period was provided. Since IFRS came into effect in 2004, no information before this date is available.