2008 Annual Report - SBM Offshore

SBM Offshore Annual Report 2008 / Report of the Supervisory Board19The main items that were discussed during the yearwere:• annual and half-yearly Financial Statements andfinancial data to be included in press releases;• quarterly financial reports;• analysis of the financial results of projects;• acceleration of financial reporting timetable;• risk management, internal control and audit, anddiscussion of the Company’s In Control statement;• reports by external auditors and compliance withrecommendations and observations;• relations with the external auditor, including, inparticular, the independence, remuneration andnon-audit services provided for the Company.Analysis of the KPMG fees is disclosed within note3 of the notes to the Financial Statements;• performance of the external auditor. Theassessment of the external auditor’s performanceraised no major issues that would lead to aproposal to replace KPMG Accountants N.V.Overall the standard of the audit team, the auditprocess and fees, and the interaction with theCompany’s personnel were all found satisfactorygiven the size, complexity and risk profile of theCompany. The AGM will be asked to approve theannual proposal to reappoint KPMG AccountantsN.V. as external auditor for a period of one year;• responsibilities concerning fraud or otherirregularities;• specific accounting issues such as theclassification of lease contracts as either operatingor financial leases;• fiscal policy and position of the Company;• dividend policy;• financing of the Company, including bankcovenant compliance, and balance sheet gearing;• discussion of the impact and exposures relating tothe financial crisis;• applications of Information and CommunicationTechnology (ICT);• adequacy of staffing of finance and administrationfunctions;• adequacy of insurance programmes;• budgets and forecasts for the Company as awhole, and for its major projects;• reports on Treasury exposures and forecastscovering foreign exchange, interest rates, cash flowsand guarantees;• the report prepared by a third party, on the originsof the cost overruns on major projects.Close-up view of process facilities on FPSO Espirito Santo