Auditors

The Swedish state’s ownership policy states that responsibility for election of auditors of state-owned companies shall always rest with the owner by decision of the Annual General Meeting.

Vattenfall’s Articles of Association stipulate that the company shall have one or two authorized Auditors including or excluding one or two Deputy Auditors. One registered firm of accountants may be elected as an Auditor. In accordance with the Act on Audits of State Enterprises, the Swedish National Audit Office can furthermore appoint one or more auditors to participate in the annual audit. When re-election of auditors is being considered, the auditors’ work is always evaluated.

The 2008 Annual General Meeting appointed the auditing firm Ernst & Young AB as auditor, with Authorised Public Accountant Hamish Mabon as auditor-in-charge. This appointment applies for a term until the 2012 AGM. Apart from his assignment for Vattenfall, Hamish Mabon is auditor for the following companies: Hexagon AB, Scania-Bilar Sverige AB, Softronic AB and Ambea AB.

The auditors have no assignments for companies that affect their independence as an auditor of Vattenfall.

The auditors report on their audit of the year-end book closing to the entire board and the Board also meets the auditors without the presence of the CEO or other person from management. The auditors also provide more detailed reports at meetings of the Audit Committee. In addition, the auditors meet Vattenfall’s CEO and CFO on numerous occasions during the year.

The Audit Committee has approved guidelines for how procurement of other services than auditing shall take place. These guidelines apply for all of the Group’s external auditors. In cases where more extensive consulting activities are to be performed by the elected auditors, the assignment must first be discussed and approved by the Audit Committee or CFO. The Group’s auditing costs are described in more detail in the annual report:
Annual report 2010 (PDF 7 MB)

Consulting provided by Ernst & Young AB from 2008 to 2010 pertained primarily to taxation and accounting issues, as well as to studies regarding project routines.