Auditors

The audit mandate is awarded each year by the General Meeting of Shareholders. The current auditors Ernst & Young AG assumed their mandate during the year under review. The current auditor in charge, Daniel Zaugg, has been responsible for this mandate since 2018, which is limited by law to a period of seven years.

The fee charged by the current auditors for the audit in the year under review amounted to CHF 256,300. Smaller fees were charged by Ernst & Young AG for other services (excluding tax consultancy and legal or transaction-related advice).

In 2017 the fee charged by the previous auditors KPMG AG for the audit amounted to CHF 287,400. For additional services outside the audit mandate (audit-related services) the auditors charged a total of CHF 23,100. In terms of non-audit-related services CHF 101,300 was charged for tax consultancy and CHF 30,800 was charged for other advisory services.

The Audit & Finance Committee is responsible for monitoring and supervising the external audit. It deals with the formulation and approval of the integrated audit planning, which includes the plans for both the external and the internal audits. Moreover, the Audit & Finance Committee evaluates and analyses the respective audit reports and approves the fees for the external audit.

The auditors provide a written report on the findings of the agreed audit procedures for the Interim Report and the results of the interim audit and the end-of-year audit. The auditor in charge at the auditing firm attends the meetings of the Audit & Finance Committee.