Principle 4: Safeguard integrity in financial reportingCompanies should have a structure to independently verify and safeguard the integrity of their financial reporting.
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Audit Committee
On 22 December 2003, the Board established an Audit Committee. The Comittee comprises three members, all of whom are independent Directors, including its Chairman.
The Committee is a committee of the Board, and as such its performance is incorporated into the Board’s performance review.
The Committee has a Charter, approved by the Board, which sets out the Committee’s functions, duties, responsibilities, composition and proceedings.
The purpose of the Audit Committee is to assist the Board in fulfilling its statutory and fiduciary responsibilities by providing an objective non-executive review of the effectiveness of the external reporting of financial statements and the internal control environment of the Company and the Funds for which it is the Responsible Entity including obtaining an understanding of the tax and accounting risks. The Audit Committee is also responsible for the oversight of accounting and tax policies, professional accounting requirements and internal and external audits.
The members of the Committee are:
• J F Kropp (Chairman)
• N J Milne, and
• R M Haddock
The Committee meets at least four times per year. Attendance is shown in the table below. Minutes are kept of all meetings and tabled at the following Board meeting.
| Audit Committee attendance 2010-11 |
| Director |
No. of meetings held |
No. of meetings attended |
| J F Kropp |
8 |
8 |
| N J Milne |
8 |
8 |
| M J Venter (resigned 11/01/12) |
8 |
6 |
| R M Haddock |
6 |
8 |
At least once a year, the Audit Committee meets the external auditor and the internal audit executive. It also meets separately with the external auditor independently of management.
Appointment of Auditor
PricewaterhouseCoopers is the current auditor for:
• Commonwealth Managed Investments Limited (CMIL)
• the managed investment schemes for which CMIL is the Responsible Entity, and
• the compliance plans of those registered managed investment schemes.
PricewaterhouseCoopers, which has been the appointed Auditor since the 2007-08 financial year, has appointed an audit partner for the compliance plan audits who is separate to the partner responsible for the CMIL and managed investment scheme audits.
The appointment and removal of the external Auditor is regulated by the Act.
