Unilever 2013 Annual Report Download - page 58

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Both Unlever and Prcewaterhouseoopers have for many years
had safeguards n place to avod the possblty that the audtors’
objectvty and ndependence could be compromsed, such as audt
partner rotaton and the restrcton on non-audt servces that the
external audtors can perform as descrbed below The Commttee
revewed the report from Prcewaterhouseoopers on the actons
they take to comply wth the professonal and regulatory
requrements and best practce desgned to ensure ther
ndependence from Unlever Through the tender process we have
also worked wth KPMG to ensure that they would be ndependent
from the begnnng of the 2014 fnancal year
The Commttee also revewed the statutory audt, audtrelatedand
non-audt related servces provded by Prcewaterhouseoopers
and complance wth Unlever’s documented approach, whch
prescrbes n detal the types ofengagements, lsted below, for
whch the external audtors canbeused
• statutory audt servces, ncludng audt of subsdares;
• audt related engagements – servces that nvolve attestaton,
assurance or certfcaton of factual nformaton that may be
requred by external partes;
• non-audt related servces – work that our audtors are best
placed to undertake, whch may nclude
– tax servces – all sgnfcant tax work s put to tender;
– acquston and dsposal servces, ncludng related due
dlgence, audts and accountants’ reports; and
– nternal control revews
Several types of engagements are prohbted, ncludng
• bookkeepng or smlar servces;
• systems desgn and mplementaton related to fnancal
nformaton or rsk management;
• valuaton servces;
• actuaral servces;
• nternal audt; and
• staff secondments to a management functon
All audt related engagements over 250,000 and non-audt
related engagements over 100,000 requred specfc advance
approval by the Audt ommttee harman The Commttee
further approved all engagements below these levels whch have
been authorsed by the Group Controller These authortes are
revewed regularly and, where necessary, updated n the lght of
nternal developments, external developments and best practce
EVALUATION OF THE AUDIT OMMITTEE
The Boards evaluated the performance of the Commttee and the
ommttee carred out a self-assessment of ts performance, and
each has concluded that the ommttee s performng effectvely
Byron rote
Charman of the Audt ommttee
Mary Ma
Hxona Nyasulu
John Rshton
55
Unlever Annual Report and Accounts 2013 overnance