Siemens 2013 Annual Report Download - page 334

92 A. To our Shareholders 117 B. Corporate Governance 155 C. Combined Management Report

Services that are not generally pre-approved as audit or au-
dit-related services require specific pre-approval by the Audit
Committee. An approval may not be granted if the service falls
into a category of services not permitted by current law or if it
is inconsistent with ensuring the auditor’s independence, as
expressed in the four principles promulgated by the U.S. Secu-
rities and Exchange Commission: () an auditor may not act as
management or an employee of the audit client; () an auditor
may not audit his or her own work; () an auditor may not
serve in an advocacy role for his or her client; and () an audi-
tor may not provide services creating a mutual or conflicting
interest between itself and the audit client.
While non-audit-related services are not prohibited by law, ex-
cept for certain types of non-audit services enumerated in the
SEC’s rules, the Audit Committee has decided as a matter of
policy not to engage the principal accountant to provide non
audit-related services unless there is a compelling advantage
to the Company in using the principal accountant and it can
clearly be demonstrated that there is no impairment of inde-
pendence.
NOTE  Corporate Governance
The Managing Board and the Supervisory Board of Siemens
Aktiengesellschaft provided the declaration required by
Section  of the German stock corporation law (AktG) as of
October , , which is available on the Company ’s website
at
WWW.SIEMENS.COM/GCG-CODE .
The Managing Board and the Supervisory Board of IBS AG
excellence, collaboration, manufacturing, currently Siemens’
sole German publicly traded subsidiary which is included in
the Consolidated Financial Statements provided the declara-
tion required by Section  of the German stock corporation
law (AktG) as of December , , which is available at
WWW.IBS-AG.DE/EN/COMPANY/INVESTOR-RELATIONS/CORPORATE-
GOVERNANCE.
NOTE  Subsequent events
After the end of fiscal , Siemens signed an agreement to
sell its business for treating and processing municipal and in-
dustrial water and wastewater that are bundled in the Siemens
Water Technologies Business Unit, as well as the related ser-
vice activities, to funds managed by American European Asso-
ciates Investors LP (AEA), U.S., for a purchase price of €
million. Closing of the transaction is subject to approval by
regulatory authorities and is expected in the first half of fiscal
.
In November , Siemens announced a share buyback of up
to € billion ending latest on October , . The buybacks
will be made under the current authorization granted at the
Annual Shareholders’ Meeting on January , , which al-
lows for further share repurchases of a maximum of . mil-
lion shares under this program. Shares repurchased may be
used for cancelling and reducing capital stock, for issuing
shares to current and former employees, to members of the
Managing Board and board members of affiliated companies
and for meeting obligations from or in connection with con-
vertible bonds or warrant bonds.