Audit committee report

This is the report of the audit committee (committee) of The Bidvest Group Limited appointed for the financial year ended June 30 2011 in compliance with the Companies Act, 2008 as amended (the Act) and in terms of the JSE listing requirements.

The committee has detailed terms of reference that comply with the Act and King III and are approved by the board. Copies of the terms of reference are available from the company secretary on request.

Membership

The board of directors appointed the committee for the 2011 financial year. At the annual general meeting scheduled for November 21 2011, shareholders will be asked to approve the appointment of the chairman and members of the committee for the 2012 financial year.

The committee consists solely of independent non-executive directors who are all financially literate.

The members are NG Payne (chairman), D Masson, NP Mageza and JL Pamensky.

Purpose

The purpose of the committee is:

  • To assist the board in discharging its duties relating to the safeguarding of assets, the operation of adequate systems, control and reporting processes, and the preparation of accurate reporting and financial statements in compliance with the applicable legal requirements and accounting standards,
  • To provide management, external and internal auditors access to the chairman or any other member of the committee about any matter within the committee’s scope,
  • To meet separately with the external and internal auditors at least once a year,
  • To provide a forum for discussing business risk and control issues and developing recommendations for consideration by the board,
  • To monitor enterprise-wide, operational, market, regulatory, safety and other risks, and to monitor controls designed to minimise risk,
  • To review the Company’s integrated annual report, including the annual financial statements, as well as its interim report and any other public reports or announcements containing financial information,
  • To consider and recommend to the board whether external assurance should be provided on the sustainability report and, in conjunction with the risk committee, to ensure that the report is consistent with the annual financial statements,
  • To oversee the activities of, and to ensure coordination between, the activities of internal and external audit,
  • To perform duties assigned to it under the Act and other legislation, including statutory audit committee functions for subsidiary companies,
  • To receive and deal with any complaints concerning the accounting practices, internal audit or the content and audit of its financial statements or related matters, and
  • To annually review the committee’s work and terms of reference and to make recommendations to the board to ensure its effectiveness.

Duties carried out

The committee has performed its duties and responsibilities during the financial year according to its terms of reference.