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Finansiella experten i revisionsutskottet - Ett arbete om kompetens, ansvar och utmaningar

Lindgren, Elisabeth LU (2013) LAGF03 20132
Department of Law
Faculty of Law
Abstract (Swedish)
Styrelsen i börsföretag i Sverige ska som huvudregel ha ett revisionsutskott, men under vissa omständigheter kan styrelsen som helhet istället utföra revisionsutskottets uppgifter. Frågor om revisionsutskott kan hänföras till frågor om bolagsstyrning. Revisionsutskottet hör till styrelsen och dess uppgift är att bereda styrelsens arbete med kontroll av bolagets finansiella rapportering. Revisionsutskottet består av styrelseledamöter, varav minst en ska vara en så kallad finansiell expert. Den finansiella experten är en person med redovisning- eller revisionskompetens, och vilken kompetens som krävs beror på omständigheterna i det enskilda bolaget där graden av komplexitet i verksamheten har betydelse. Styrelsen kan inte avhända sig... (More)
Styrelsen i börsföretag i Sverige ska som huvudregel ha ett revisionsutskott, men under vissa omständigheter kan styrelsen som helhet istället utföra revisionsutskottets uppgifter. Frågor om revisionsutskott kan hänföras till frågor om bolagsstyrning. Revisionsutskottet hör till styrelsen och dess uppgift är att bereda styrelsens arbete med kontroll av bolagets finansiella rapportering. Revisionsutskottet består av styrelseledamöter, varav minst en ska vara en så kallad finansiell expert. Den finansiella experten är en person med redovisning- eller revisionskompetens, och vilken kompetens som krävs beror på omständigheterna i det enskilda bolaget där graden av komplexitet i verksamheten har betydelse. Styrelsen kan inte avhända sig ansvaret för sina uppgifter, men den finansiella experten kommer vid en bedömning av sitt individuella skadeståndsansvar troligen att åläggas ett större ansvar än övriga ledamöter för fel och försummelser inom sitt specialområde. Diverse utmaningar berör den finansiella expertens roll. Tänkbara utmaningar för den finansiella experten är att hålla sig uppdaterad kring avancerade regelverk, att hantera att vara finansiell expert i flera styrelser samtidigt samt att hantera arbetet i ett revisionsutskott som innehåller fler än en finansiell expert.

Revisionsutskottet och den finansiella experten har sina ursprung i de anglosaxiska länderna. I USA regleras dessa fenomen genom lagreglering, och i Storbritannien regleras de genom självreglering. I USA och Storbritannien ska börsföretag som huvudregel ha revisionsutskott där en finansiell expert ska ingå. I den amerikanska regleringen finns en definition av den finansiella expertens kompetens, men en sådan ingående definition saknas i den brittiska regleringen. Såväl den amerikanska som den brittiska regleringen stadgar att den finansiella experten har samma ansvar som övriga styrelseledamöter.

Mycket har hänt med rättsutvecklingen kring det svenska revisionsutskottet och dess finansiella expert de senaste åren. Revisionsutskottet har gått från att ha varit oreglerat, till att bli föremål för Kodens självreglering och slutligen lagreglering i ABL på mindre än 10 år. Kravet på en finansiell expert introducerades genom lagreglering i ABL för snart fem år sedan. Bakgrunden till nuvarande reglering är internationell inspiration, näringslivets initiativ samt agerande från EU och regeringen till följd av oro för kriser på marknaden. I februari 2014 ska Europaparlamentet rösta om föreslagna EU-regler rörande revisionsutskott. Ett ikraftträdande av dessa regler skulle bland annat innebära att revisionsutskottet får utökade uppgifter och att revisionsutskottet måste innehålla minst två finansiella experter. (Less)
Abstract
The board of listed companies in Sweden must as a main rule have an audit committee, but under certain circumstances the board as a whole can instead perform the tasks of the audit committee. Questions for the audit committee can be attributed to issues of corporate governance. The audit committee belongs to the board and its task is to prepare the board’s work with control over the financial reporting. The audit committee consists of board directors, of which as least one is known as a financial expert. The financial expert is a person with competence in accounting or auditing, and what skills are required depends on the circumstances of each company in which the degree of complexity in the operations impact. The board cannot deprive... (More)
The board of listed companies in Sweden must as a main rule have an audit committee, but under certain circumstances the board as a whole can instead perform the tasks of the audit committee. Questions for the audit committee can be attributed to issues of corporate governance. The audit committee belongs to the board and its task is to prepare the board’s work with control over the financial reporting. The audit committee consists of board directors, of which as least one is known as a financial expert. The financial expert is a person with competence in accounting or auditing, and what skills are required depends on the circumstances of each company in which the degree of complexity in the operations impact. The board cannot deprive itself of the responsibility for its tasks, but the financial expert will at an assessment of the individual liability most likely be imposed with a greater responsibility than other directors for errors and omissions in their specialist fields. Various challenges are affecting the role of the financial expert. Possible challenges for the financial expert are to keep himself/herself updated about advanced regulations, managing to be a financial expert on several boards simultaneously and managing the work of an audit committee which contains more than one financial expert.

The audit committee and the financial expert have its origin in the Anglo-Saxon countries. In the U.S. these phenomena are governed by statuary regulation, and in the UK they are regulated through self-regulation. In the U.S. and the UK listed companies must have an audit committee with a financial expert. In the U.S. regulation there is a definition of the competence of the financial expert, but such a precise definition is lacking in the British regulation. Both the American and the British regulations provide that the financial expert has the same responsibility as other directors.

Much has happened to the legal developments surrounding the Swedish audit committee and its financial experts in recent years. The audit committee has gone from being unregulated, to be subject of the Code’s self-regulation and finally statuary regulation in ABL (the Swedish Companies Act) in less than 10 years. The requirement of a financial expert was introduced by statuary regulation in ABL almost five years ago. The background of the present rules is international inspiration, business initiatives and actions by the EU and the Swedish government as a result of concerns about market crises. In February 2014 the European parliament will vote on proposed EU rules regarding the audit committee. One effect of these rules would, among other things, mean that the audit committee may get extended tasks and that the audit committee must have at least two financial experts. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Lindgren, Elisabeth LU
supervisor
organization
course
LAGF03 20132
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
associationsrätt, revisionsutskott, finansiell expert, bolagsstyrning
language
Swedish
id
4228366
date added to LUP
2014-01-30 11:17:54
date last changed
2014-01-30 11:17:54
@misc{4228366,
  abstract     = {{The board of listed companies in Sweden must as a main rule have an audit committee, but under certain circumstances the board as a whole can instead perform the tasks of the audit committee. Questions for the audit committee can be attributed to issues of corporate governance. The audit committee belongs to the board and its task is to prepare the board’s work with control over the financial reporting. The audit committee consists of board directors, of which as least one is known as a financial expert. The financial expert is a person with competence in accounting or auditing, and what skills are required depends on the circumstances of each company in which the degree of complexity in the operations impact. The board cannot deprive itself of the responsibility for its tasks, but the financial expert will at an assessment of the individual liability most likely be imposed with a greater responsibility than other directors for errors and omissions in their specialist fields. Various challenges are affecting the role of the financial expert. Possible challenges for the financial expert are to keep himself/herself updated about advanced regulations, managing to be a financial expert on several boards simultaneously and managing the work of an audit committee which contains more than one financial expert. 

The audit committee and the financial expert have its origin in the Anglo-Saxon countries. In the U.S. these phenomena are governed by statuary regulation, and in the UK they are regulated through self-regulation. In the U.S. and the UK listed companies must have an audit committee with a financial expert. In the U.S. regulation there is a definition of the competence of the financial expert, but such a precise definition is lacking in the British regulation. Both the American and the British regulations provide that the financial expert has the same responsibility as other directors. 

Much has happened to the legal developments surrounding the Swedish audit committee and its financial experts in recent years. The audit committee has gone from being unregulated, to be subject of the Code’s self-regulation and finally statuary regulation in ABL (the Swedish Companies Act) in less than 10 years. The requirement of a financial expert was introduced by statuary regulation in ABL almost five years ago. The background of the present rules is international inspiration, business initiatives and actions by the EU and the Swedish government as a result of concerns about market crises. In February 2014 the European parliament will vote on proposed EU rules regarding the audit committee. One effect of these rules would, among other things, mean that the audit committee may get extended tasks and that the audit committee must have at least two financial experts.}},
  author       = {{Lindgren, Elisabeth}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Finansiella experten i revisionsutskottet - Ett arbete om kompetens, ansvar och utmaningar}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}