Siemens 2010 Annual Report Download - page 302

6 To our shareholders 21 Corporate Governance 49 Combined management’s discussion and analysis

 – Principal accountant
fees and services
Fees related to professional services rendered by the Compa-
ny ’s principal accountant, Ernst & Young (E&Y), for the fiscal
years  and  were as follows:
Year ended September ,
Type of fees  
Audit Services 40.9 40.5
Other Assurance Services
(Audit-Related Services) 5.3 4.6
Tax Advisory Services (Tax Services) 1.0 4.2
Other Services 0.1 –
Total 47.3 49.3
Audit services and audit-related services consist of fees associ-
ated with the services pre-approved by the Audit Committee
described below. Tax fees include primarily fees for support
services provided in connection with the documentation of
transfer pricing arrangements and require specific pre-approval
by the Audit Committee.
As of September , ,  percent of total fees relate to
Ernst & Young GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, Ger-
many.
Audit Committee pre-approval policies
In accordance with German law, Siemens’ independent auditor
is appointed by the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting based on a
recommendation of the Supervisory Board. The Audit Commit-
tee of the Supervisory Board prepares the board’s recommen-
dation on the election of the Company ’s independent auditor.
Subsequent to the auditor’s appointment, the Audit Commit-
tee engages the auditor and in its sole authority approves the
terms and scope of the audit and all audit engagement fees. In
addition, it monitors the auditor’s independence.
In order to ensure the integrity of independent audits, Siemens’
Audit Committee has established a policy to approve all per-
missible services provided by our independent auditor prior to
the auditor’s engagement. As part of this approval process, the
Audit Committee adopted pre-approval policies and procedures
pursuant to which the Audit Committee annually pre-approves
certain types of services to be performed by Siemens’ indepen-
dent auditor. Under the policies, the Company ’s independent
auditor is not allowed to perform any non-audit services which
may impair the auditor’s independence under the rules of the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Public
Company Accounting Oversight Board. Furthermore, the Audit
Committee has limited the sum total of all audit-related fees
which may be incurred during a fiscal year. At the beginning of
fiscal year , this limit was reduced to provide that fees for
all non-audit services, including audit-related services, tax
services and other services, may not exceed  percent of the
audit fees agreed upon for the respective fiscal year. Previously,
the limit was  percent, and applied only to audit-related
services.
In fiscal , the Audit Committee has generally pre-approved
the performance by E&Y of audit and audit-related services,
including among others the following:
Audit services:
>
Annual audit of Siemens’ Consolidated Financial Statements
and its internal control over financial reporting;
> Quarterly review of Siemens’ interim consolidated financial
statements;
>
Audit and review services that are required by statute or
regulation, including statutory audits of financial statements
of Siemens AG and of its subsidiaries under the rules of their
respective countries;
>
Opening balance sheet audits in connection with acquisi-
tions, including audits with regard to the allocation of pur-
chase prices.
Audit-related services:
> Voluntary local GAAP audits;
>
Due diligence relating to actual or contemplated acquisitions
and carve-outs, including consultation in accounting mat-
ters;
> Post-closing audits;
>
Carve-out audits and attestation services in the context of
carve-outs;
> Certification services required by regulation, law or contrac-
tual agreement;
>
Consultation concerning financial accounting and reporting
standards based on the auditor’s knowledge of Siemens-
specific circumstances, including:
>
Accounting advice relating to actual or contemplated
transactions or events;
>
Advice on the introduction and review of new or revised
accounting guidelines and requirements;
> Training regarding accounting-related topics;