In lieu of the Supervisory Board, the Audit Committee performs the following tasks in particular:
- Approval of the launch of capital market programs, taking out bonds, agreeing credit lines and other loans with an amount of between EUR 50 million and EUR 200 million in the individual case.
- Dealing with accounting issues and monitoring the accounting process; In this respect, the Committee receives regular reports from the Management Board on the effects of the changes in accounting and accounting standards that are relevant for the Group or the Company, in particular IFRS; it can make recommendations or suggestions to ensure the integrity of the accounting process;
- Discussing the quarterly financial reports and the half-yearly financial report as well as discussion of partial results of the audit;
- Supervising the final year-end audit and determining the key audit matters;
- Supervising and safeguarding the independence of the auditor during the execution of the audit as well as dealing with the additional services provided by the auditor; the provision of non-prohibited non-audit services by the auditor and his network to the company or a company of the group requires the prior approval of the audit committee; the examination board can draw up guidelines for the provision of such services;
- Conduction of tender and selection procedures for auditor mandates in accordance with the statutory provisions for external rotation of the auditor, in particular Article 16 et seq. Of the EU Auditing Regulation (Regulation (EU) No. 537/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 16, 2014 on specific requirements for the statutory audit of public-interest entities and repealing Commission Decision 2005/909 / EC);
- Issuing the audit assignment for external support of the Supervisory Board in reviewing the content of the non-financial reporting as well as carrying out the tender and selection procedures for such an assignment;
- Engaging in questions of group tax planning;
- Engaging with the report by the Management Board on donations.
In addition, the Audit Committee shall perform preparatory work for the Supervisory Board and issue resolutions proposals. The preparatory work of the Audit Committee comprises the following tasks:
- Questions of risk management and supervising the efficacy of the risk management system;
- Supervising the efficacy of the internal audit system, internal control systems as well as so-called "anti-fraud"-measures;
- Questions of Compliance and supervising the Compliance Management System within the Group;
- Examining the annual and the consolidated financial statements including the respective management reports on the basis of the results of the audit and the supplementary explanations by the auditor and the evaluation of the audit reports as well as the examination of the proposal of the Management Board with regard to the appropriation of the balance sheet profit and
- as the case may be, examining the dependency report;
- Proposal of the Supervisory Board to the Annual General Meeting as regards the election of the auditor as well as the placement of the audit assignment with the auditor and concluding the audit fee agreement; with respect to the recommendation of the Audit Committee as regards the election of the auditor the provisions of art. 16 para. 2 of the EU regulation on auditors must be observed;
- Examination of the non-financial declaration or the separate non-financial report and the non-financial group declaration or the separate non-financial group report, if these have been prepared;
- Annual budget, medium-term plan and financing plan for the Group.
Members
Karin Dohm (Chairwoman)
Sylvia Woelke (Deputy Chairwoman)
Ludwig Glosser
Corinna Groß
Peter Kimpel
Birgit Kretschmer