Metsä Group's internal audit assists the Board of Directors in performing its supervisory task by assessing the level of internal audit maintained in order to attain the targets of Metsä Group's operations. In addition, the internal audit supports the organisation by evaluating and ensuring the functionality of business processes, risk management and the management and administration systems.
The core task of the internal audit is to evaluate the efficiency and appropriateness of Group functions' and units' internal auditing. In its task, the internal audit assesses compliance with operating principles, guidelines and reporting systems, protection of assets and the efficiency of resource usage.
The internal audit unit acts under the supervision of the Group's President and CEO and the Audit Committee. An internal audit action plan of internal auditing is prepared for one calendar year at a time. The audit focuses on areas that have particular significance for the risk assessed and the Group's objectives at the time. The action plan will be reviewed with the management semi-annually, with regard to how up-to-date and appropriate it is.
The extent and coordination of auditing will be ensured with regular contact and flow of information with other internal control functions and auditors. If necessary, internal auditing uses external outsourced services for temporary additional resourcing or performing assessment tasks that require special expertise. In this case, the external service providers act under the supervision of the head of the internal audit.
A report is written for each audit and distributed to the Group's CEO, the senior management of the affiliated group being audited and the management of the audited function or unit. The audit reports are submitted to the auditors for information and to the parties that are considered relevant on the basis of the content of the report. The internal audit department shall compose a semi-annual summary report to the Audit Committee on the audits carried out, the most significant observations and the agreed measures. In addition, the semi-annual report shall state the most significant changes in carrying out the audits compared to the action plan and other main duties performed by the internal audit department, as well as any changes in resources. An annual report of the activity of the internal audit shall be composed for the Board of Directors.