Internal Audit

Internal Audit

The SES group Internal Audit function was established in 2000. Internal Audit evaluates the relevance of, and compliance with internal control procedures.

The mission of the Internal Audit function is to provide independent and objective assistance and assurance regarding the effectiveness and efficiency of business operations, the reliability of financial and operational reporting, and the group’s compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. In this context, Internal Audit is also tasked with identifying, preventing and minimising risks, as well as with the safeguarding of the group’s assets.

Under its charter, which was revised and amended in 2008, the Internal Audit function reports to the President and CEO of SES, but may also report directly to the Audit Committee.

The activities of the Internal Audit function are executed in accordance with an annual audit plan which is reviewed and approved by the Audit Committee. This annual plan is derived from an annual risk assessment based on a risk mapping exercise. The introduction of an annual risk assessment responds to the need to dynamically link the audit plan to risk and exposures that may affect the organisation and its operations. This exercise involves identifying the inherent risks relative to all business processes and then assessing the levels of residual risks after consideration of specific mitigating controls.

Internal Audit monitors the implementation of internal control recommendations and regularly reports on effective compliance to the President and CEO of SES and to the Audit Committee. Internal Audit also regularly coordinates audit planning and exchanges relevant information with the group’s external auditors. As a result of an external quality assessment conducted in 2007, which confirmed that the Internal Audit function generally conforms to the international standards for the professional practice of internal auditing defined by the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), the Internal Audit function initiated and implemented an improvement action plan. In accordance with the same standards an internal quality assessment performed through self-assessment is programmed in 2010.

The internal control procedures are designed to ensure:

• the efficiency and effectiveness of operations
• the integrity and reliability of financial and operational information, both for internal and external use
• the safeguarding of assets
• the compliance of actions and decisions with applicable laws
• regulations, standards, internal rules and contracts