Unilever 2015 Annual Report Download - page 67

MEMBERSHIP OF THE OMMITTEE
The Audt ommttee s comprsed only of ndependent Non-
Executve Drectors wth a mnmum requrement of three such
members It s chared by John Rshton The composton of the
ommttee changed after the AMs n Aprl 2015 when Byron rote
left the ommttee and Judth Hartmann oned the ommttee At that
tme John Rshton took over the harmanshp of the ommttee from
Byron rote The other members are Mary Ma and Hxona Nyasulu
For the purposes of the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 John Rshton
s the Audt ommttee’s fnancal expert The Boards have satsfed
themselves that the current members of the Audt ommttee are
competent n fnancal matters and have recent and relevant
experence Other attendees at ommttee meetngs (or part thereof)
were the hef Fnancal Offcer, hef Audtor, roup ontroller, hef
Legal Offcer, roup Secretary and the external audtors Throughout
the year the ommttee members perodcally met wthout others
present and also held separate prvate sessons wth the hef
Fnancal Offcer, hef Audtor and the external audtors, allowng
the ommttee to dscuss any ssues n more detal drectly
ROLE OF THE OMMITTEE
The role and responsbltes of the Audt ommttee are set out
n wrtten terms of reference whch are revewed annually by
the ommttee takng nto account relevant legslaton and
recommended good practce The terms of reference are
contaned wthn ‘The overnance of Unlever’ whch s avalable
on our webste at wwwunlevercom/corporategovernance
The ommttee’s responsbltes nclude, but are not lmted to,
the followng matters wth a vew to brngng any relevant ssues
to the attenton of the Boards
• oversght of the ntegrty of Unlever’s fnancal statements
• revew of Unlever’s quarterly and annual fnancal statements
(ncludng clarty and completeness of dsclosure), and approval
of the quarterly tradng statements for quarter 1 and quarter 3
• oversght of rsk management and nternal control arrangements
• oversght of complance wth legal and regulatory requrements
• oversght of the external audtors’ performance, obectvty,
qualfcatons and ndependence the approval process of
non-audt servces recommendaton to the Boards of ther
nomnaton for shareholder approval and approval of ther
fees, refer to note 25 on page 135
• the performance of the nternal audt functon and
• approval of the Unlever Leadershp Executve (ULE) expense
polcy and the revew of Executve Drector expenses
In order to help the ommttee meet ts oversght responsbltes,
each year management organse knowledge sessons for the
ommttee on subect areas wthn ther remt In 2015, sessons
on legslatve developments n tax and the reportng and assurance
methods used for the Unlever Sustanable Lvng Plan were held
In addton, both Byron rote and John Rshton vsted one of our
key accountng and reportng centres n Bangalore
HOW THE OMMITTEE HAS DISHARED ITS RESPONSIBILITIES
Durng the year, the ommttee’s prncpal actvtes were as follows
FINANIAL STATEMENTS
The ommttee revewed the quarterly fnancal press releases
together wth the assocated nternal quarterly reports from the hef
Fnancal Offcer and the Dsclosure ommttee, and wth respect
to the half-year, and full-year results the external audtors’ reports,
pror to ther publcaton They also revewed the Annual Report
and Accounts and Annual Report on Form 20-F These revews
ncorporated the accountng polces and sgnfcant udgements
and estmates underpnnng the fnancal statements as dsclosed
wthn note 1 on pages 94 and 95 Partcular attenton was pad to the
followng sgnfcant ssues n relaton to the fnancal statements
• revenue recognton – estmaton of dscounts, ncentves on
sales made durng the year, refer to note 2 on page 96
• drect tax provsons and contngences, refer to note 6 on pages
106 to 108 and
• ndrect tax provsons and contngences, refer to note 19
on page 129
The external audtors have agreed the lst of sgnfcant ssues
dscussed by the Audt ommttee
For each of the above areas the ommttee consdered the key
facts and udgements outlned by management Members of
management attended the secton of the meetng of the ommttee
where ther tem was dscussed to answer any questons or
challenges posed by the ommttee The ssues were also
dscussed wth the external audtors and further nformaton can
be found on page 86 The ommttee was satsfed that there are
relevant accountng polces n place n relaton to these sgnfcant
ssues and management have correctly appled these polces
At the request of the Boards the ommttee undertook to
• revew the approprateness of adoptng the gong concern bass
of accountng n preparng the annual fnancal statements and
• assess whether the busness was vable n accordance wth
the new requrement of the UK orporate overnance ode
The assessment ncluded a revew of the prncpal rsks facng
Unlever, ther potental mpact, how they were beng managed,
together wth a dscusson as to the approprate perod for the
assessment The ommttee recommended to the Boards that
there s a reasonable expectaton that the roup wll be able to
contnue n operaton and meet ts labltes as they fall due
over the three-year perod of the assessment
At the request of the Boards the ommttee also consdered
whether the 2015 Annual Report and Accounts was far, balanced
and understandable and whether t provded the necessary
nformaton for shareholders to assess the roup’s poston and
performance, busness model and strategy The ommttee was
OMMITTEE MEMBERS AND ATTENDANE
ATTENDANE
John Rshton 8 / 8
har (snce Aprl 2015)
Byron rote (har untl Aprl 2015) 5 / 5
Judth Hartmann (Member snce Aprl 2015) 3 / 3
Mary Ma 8 / 8
Hxona Nyasulu 8 / 8
Ths table shows the membershp of the ommttee together wth ther
attendance at meetngs durng 2015 If Drectors are unable to attend
a meetng, they have the opportunty beforehand to dscuss any agenda
tems wth the ommttee har Attendance s expressed as the number
of meetngs attended out of the number elgble to be attended
HIHLIHTS OF 2015
• Annual Report and Accounts
• Vablty assessment
• Non-Fnancal KPIs
• Impact of upcomng tax regulatons
• IT securty and data prvacy
• IT reslence
PRIORITIES FOR 2016
• Exchange rate management
• Non-Fnancal KPIs
• IT securty and data prvacy
• Tax strategy and reportng
60 Unilever Annual Report and Accounts 2015Governance
REPORT OF THE AUDIT OMMITTEE