Corporate Governance

Duration of the mandate and term of office of the lead auditor

Ernst & Young Ltd (EY), Zurich, as Kuehne + Nagel’s auditor started in 2013. The auditor in charge is Christian Krämer. The re-election for the financial year 2018 was confirmed at the Annual General Meeting held on May 8, 2018, and with the letter of acceptance signed on October 25, 2018.

The rotation sequence of the auditor in charge is seven years and thus corresponds with the legal rule.

Audit fees

According to the Group’s financial records the fees charged for auditing services for the year 2018 amounted to CHF 3.7 million (2017: CHF 3.7 million).

Additional fees

In addition to the fees mentioned above, the statutory auditors are asked on a very restrictive basis to provide certain consulting services beyond the annual audit mandate. In 2018 an amount of CHF 0.4 million (2017: CHF 0.3 million) was incurred mainly related to tax consultancy mandates.

Supervisory and controlling instruments towards the statutory auditors

The work performed by the external statutory auditors is supervised, controlled, and duly monitored by the Board of Directors’ Audit Committee. The statutory auditors report regularly to the Audit Committee. In 2018 the auditor in charge attended three Audit Committee meetings in person. In 2018 the auditor in charge also attended one meeting of the Board of Directors. The main criteria for the selection of the external audit company are its worldwide network, its reputation, and pricing.