annual Report 2009 - STRATEC Biomedical AG

Report of the board of Management
Report of the supervisory board
THE share
Corporate Governance
Group Management report
Consolidated financial statements
Service
the risk of fines or contractual penalties due to non-compliance
with regulations or the risk of legal proceedings being
initiated against the company’s directors and officers. The
availability of considerable expertise at the internal legal
department and from the legal advisors of the STRATEC
Group enable these risks under private, criminal and labor
law to be dealt with appropriately. The investor relations
and communications departments of the STRATEC Group
are the contact partners for risks relating to capital market
law in terms of non-compliance with disclosure obligations
or insider trading.
Internal information system – Within the STRATEC Group,
the internal exchange of information takes place directly
between the relevant specialist departments and management
teams in the case of subsidiaries. This process is
assisted by the quality management department and is
dependent on the clear instruction issued by this department
to all employees that the agreed regulations have to
be complied with. The assessment of such risks is covered
by a separate section in the risk management system of the
STRATEC Group. The specialist departments hold regular
employee training sessions covering the relevant requirements
(including those applicable to the capital market).
Internal controlling system – Controlling activities in
the context of the compliance management system are
performed by the relevant specialist departments, which
in turn are required to report to the management of the
respective companies of STRATEC AG.
All key positions at the STRATEC Group are filled with
responsible, competent employees. Within their respective
areas of responsibility, however, managers are nevertheless
obliged to perform ongoing checks throughout the
business process.
The ongoing checks in both development and production
divisions take the form of documentation inspections
undertaken by the respective managers. Moreover, the
quality management department also performs internal
audits at regular intervals. Accounting procedures and the
flow of funds at the companies are inspected by applying
the dual control principle and by undertaking audits of key
areas upon the preparation of the financial statements.
The Board of Management is regularly informed about
the compliance system and about important compliancerelated
matters at the company. The Board of Management
in turn reports on compliance-related matters to the Supervisory
Board within the framework of the risk management
system.
13. Risk report
Risk report:
Risk management system
The risk management system was established as an early
warning risk identification system and serves to analyze and
assess the risks facing the company and its environment
pursuant to § 91 (2) of the German Stock Corporation
Act (AktG). The individuals required to report such risks
compile reports on their respective areas of risk at fixed
intervals, as well as ad-hoc reports if necessary, which
are qualified and quantified on the basis of a systematic
approach. At the various levels of aggregation, the decision
makers and directors and officers of the company
are provided with a so-called Risk Handbook to serve as
a controlling instrument. This enables the conceivable
consequences of individual risks, including those arising
over time, to be viewed and assessed alongside any
change in their probability of occurrence. With the extension
of group structures within the STRATEC Group, the
subsidiaries have been incorporated into the existing risk
management system at the parent company. The respective
risks and their various interdependencies are analyzed
both at the individual companies and between the group
companies.
The opportunities arising for the STRATEC Group on
account of its cooperation with existing and new partners,
its new technologies, and its substantial growth in changing
markets are to be assessed as being sustainably positive.
Potential risks should nevertheless be reported, regardless
of whether it is considered likely or unlikely that they will
actually occur. Factors such as the speed of development,
the smooth integration of hardware and software, and the
fulfillment of regulatory and market requirements have a
considerable impact on the growth and success of the
STRATEC Group. In contrast to these, other factors, such
as the definition of market acceptance criteria and the
reagents portfolio, a major factor in the success of a given
product, lie outside the control of the STRATEC Group. Due
to our business model, trials, validation, the extent to which
minimum purchase volumes are exceeded and the sales
structures are in the hands of our customers.
stratec Annual Report 2009
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