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. Pursuant to the Act on audits of state enterprises, the Swedish National Audit Office can appoint one or more auditors to participate in the annual audit.

Vattenfall’s Articles of Association stipulate that a minimum of one and maximum of three auditors are to be appointed at the Annual General Meeting, along with a minimum of one and a maximum of three deputies, and that a chartered auditing firm can be appointed as auditor or deputy auditor.

The 2008 Annual General Meeting re-elected Ernst & Young AB as auditor, with Authorised Public Accountant Hamish Mabon as new auditor-in-charge. This appointment applies for a term lasting through the 2012 AGM. Apart from his assignment with Vattenfall, Hamish Mabon serves as auditor for the following companies: Hexagon AB, Relacom Holding AB, Scania Sverige AB, Softronic AB and Ambea AB. Hamish Mabon has no assignments with companies that affect his independence as an auditor of Vattenfall.

The Swedish National Audit Office has appointed Authorised Public Accountant Per Redemo to serve until the 2012 AGM, with Authorised Public Accountant Göran Selander as deputy during the same time period. Per Redemo has held this position since 2004. He is also the National Audit Office’s auditor for SJ AB. He has no assignments for companies that affect his independence as an auditor of Vattenfall.

The auditors reported on their audit of the year-end book-closing to the entire board at the board meetings on 17 March 2009, and also reported on their remarks at the board meeting on 10 December 2009. In connection with the report on 17 March 2009, the Board met the auditors without the presence of the CEO or other person from the executive management. The auditors have also provided more detailed reports at meetings of the Audit Committee. In addition, the auditors meet Vattenfall’s CEO and CFO on a number of 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 Note 52 to the consolidated accounts and Note 39 to the parent company accounts in the annual report.

The Annual report 2009 (PDF 13 kB)

Consulting provided by Ernst & Young AB from 2007-2009 pertained primarily to taxation and accounting issues, as well as to project routines and management.