The Pension Fund Architects & Designers has an internal audit function appointed by the Board of Directors and external auditors (PricewaterhouseCoopers) appointed by the shareholders as required by law.
The internal audit function is, due to an audit plan approved by the Board of Director, o. a. responsible for an independent audit of the internal controls in the pension fund. Furthermore the internal audit function cooperate with external audit to perform the audit, which lead to express an opinion of the Financial Statements of the companies in the Insurance administration partnership.
PricewaterhouseCoopers conducted their audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing and additional requirements under Danish audit regulation.
This requires that they comply with ethical requirements and plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance whether the Company Financial Statements are free from material misstatement.
An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the Company Financial Statements. The procedures selected depend on the auditor’s judgment, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the Company Financial Statements, whether due to fraud or error.
In making those risk assessments, the auditor considers internal control relevant to the Company’s preparation of the Financial Statements that give a true and fair view in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control.
An audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates made by Management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the Company Financial Statements.
Audit & Risk Committee
The Board of Directors of The Pension Fund Architects & Designers has set up a separate Audit & Risk Committee pursuant to the audit legislation on public-interest entities.
The Audit & Risk Committee consists of the following board members:
- Søren Kaare-Andersen - Chairman of the Audit & Risk Committee (Member of the Board)
- Jan Ove Petersen (Member of the Board)
- Holger Bisgaard (Member of the Board)
According to the rules on audit committees, at least one member must possess audit or accounting qualifications.
The Audit & Risk Committee has no independent decision-making powers, but is exclusively a preparatory committee charged with reviewing and monitoring certain matters. Thus, the Audit & Risk Committee assists in preparing and qualifying matters for consideration by the entire Board of Directors. However the Audit & Risk Committee is responsible of approving non-audit services.
The Audit & Risk Committee meets at least four times per year and prepares an annual plan for the committee, which is submitted to the Board of Directors for approval. According to Danish law, the Audit & Risk Committee is responsible for monitoring and assessing whether the pension fund's financial reporting, internal control systems, risk management and statutory audit are planned appropriately as well as assessing the auditors' independence and issuing recommendations on the appointment or reappointment of auditors. Furthermore the Audit & Risk Committee are to view the ORSA-reporting, the risk profile, capital plans prior to the Board of Directors approval as well as reviewing and assessing the pension fund's operational risk reporting.
The Audit & Risk Committee reports regularly to the Board of Directors, ensuring that the Board receives adequate information about matters to be considered by the Board.