Audit Committee members are appointed for their financial and/or accounting skills, assessed with particular regard to their past career (positions held in general or financial management or in an audit firm), academic background or specific knowledge of the Company’s business.
Three-quarters of the Audit Committee members are independent:
> Véronique Morali* , Chairman of the Committee
* Independent Director.
The main tasks of the Audit Committee are:
- monitoring the process for preparing financial information and, where applicable, making recommendations to guarantee the reliability of that information;
- reviewing the draft annual and interim financial statements of the Company and the draft annual and interim consolidated financial statements of the Company and its subsidiaries (hereafter the “Group” or the “Lagardère group”) before they are submitted to the Board;
- ensuring that the accounting policies and principles adopted are pertinent for the preparation of the Company’s individual and consolidated financial statements, as well as the quality, completeness, accuracy, and fairness of those financial statements;
- ensuring the monitoring of the effectiveness of internal control and risk management systems and where applicable internal audit, as regards accounting and financial reporting procedures;
- ensuring that the Company has reliable internal control procedures, particularly with respect to risk exposure, including social and environmental risks;
- issuing a recommendation on the Statutory Auditors nominated for appointment or for reappointment by the General Meeting, and on fees payable to those Statutory Auditors;
- ensuring the monitoring of the implementation of measures to prevent and detect corruption;
- reviewing the agreements between the Group and the Company’s senior executives;
- ensuring the Statutory Auditors’ independence.