The Board of Directors has the duty to make a proposal to the Annual General Meeting as to the election and fees of the auditor. The Annual General Meeting elects the auditors for a term of office ending at the close of the next Annual General Meeting. A proposal to the Annual General Meeting on the election of auditors that has been made known to the Board of Directors prior to the Annual General Meeting will be made public if it is supported by shareholders holding a minimum of 10% of all the company’s shares and voting rights and the person or company proposed has consented to such nomination.
The Annual General Meeting 2024 elected PricewaterhouseCoopers Oy as the auditor as well as the sustainability reporting assurance provider for the term of office ending at the end of the next Annual General Meeting. The auditor will be reimbursed in accordance with the respective invoice approved by the Board of Directors.
Both Outokumpu and PricewaterhouseCoopers Oy emphasize the requirement stipulating that the auditor be independent of the company being audited. The PwC Network Independence policy is based on the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants’ (IESBA) Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants.
Outokumpu Board Audit Committee continuously monitored the non-audit services purchased by the Group from PricewaterhouseCoopers at the global level.The company’s auditors submit the statutory auditor’s report to the company’s shareholders in connection with the company’s financial statements. The auditors also report their findings to the Board Audit Committee on a regular basis and at least once a year to the full Board of Directors. In 2023, the parent company, Outokumpu Oyj, was audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers Oy, and the responsible auditor was Janne Rajalahti, Authorized Public Accountant. PricewaterhouseCoopers Oy was also responsible for overseeing and coordinating the auditing of all Group companies.In 2023, the auditors were paid fees totalling EUR 3.2 million, of which the non-auditing services accounted for EUR 0.3 million.