Mercedes 2015 Annual Report Download - page 176

issues related to financial reporting were discussed with the
external auditors. Following an intensive review and discussion,
the Audit Committee recommended that the Supervisory
Board approve the annual financial statements and the com-
bined management report, and on this basis adopt the
re commendation of the Board of Management to pay a dividend
of €2.45 per share entitled to a dividend. Furthermore, the
Audit Committee approved the Report of the Audit Committee
for the year 2014.
Also in this meeting, the Audit Committee discussed the report
on the fees paid to the external auditors in the year 2014 for
auditing and non-auditing services. Taking into consideration
the results of the independence review, the Audit Committee
decided to recommend to the Supervisory Board, and subse-
quently to the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting, that KPMG be
engaged to conduct the annual external audit and the external
auditors’ review of interim financial reports for financial year
2015. Among other things, the Audit Committee based this rec-
ommendation on the very good results of the analysis of the
quality of the external audit of financial year 2013 carried out
by the Audit Committee in May 2014. Subject to the election
of the proposed external auditors by the Annual Shareholders’
Meeting, the Committee discussed the proposal for the fees
to be agreed upon with the external auditors for financial year
2015. Finally, within the framework of its responsibility, the
Audit Committee dealt with the draft agenda for the 2015 Annual
Shareholders’ Meeting and the annual audit plan for 2015 of
the Corporate Auditing department.
In the meetings during 2015 relating to the quarterly results,
the Audit Committee discussed the interim financial reports
before their publication with the Board of Management and
with the external auditors engaged to carry out the auditors’
review of interim financial statements. In addition, the Commit-
tee received reports from the Compliance, Legal and Corpo-
rate Audit departments. In this connection, the Audit Commit-
tee dealt, for example, with the current status of pending
legal proceedings and with measures taken by the Company to
prevent money laundering and to ensure a review of sanction
lists. In addition, the Audit Committee dealt with notifications
concerning possible violations of rules submitted by employees
and third parties to the Company’s own whistleblower system,
the BPO (Business Practices Office).
In its meeting on June 18, 2015, the Audit Committee discussed
the Group’s risk management system, and dealt in particular
with its changes and further development. It also discussed the
methods and processes of, and possible changes to, the
internal control system, which along with accounting also encom-
passes the internal auditing and compliance management
functions. Furthermore, the Committee received a report
on the non-auditing services provided by the external auditors.
In this meeting, the important audit issues for the external
audit of the reporting period and the framework of approval for
engaging the external auditors to provide non-audit services
were also determined. In addition, this meeting was used to dis-
cuss the results of the internal quality analysis of the external
audit for the year 2014.
Dr. Clemens Börsig, Chairman of the Audit Committee