ANNUAL REPORT 2008 - Polymer Bank Notes of the World

The Eurosystem/ESCB committees havecontinued to play an important role in assistingthe ECB’s decision-making bodies in theperformance of their tasks. At the request ofboth the Governing Council and the ExecutiveBoard, the committees have providedexpertise in their fields of competence andhave facilitated the decision-making process.Membership of the committees is usuallyrestricted to staff of the Eurosystem centralbanks. However, the NCBs of the MemberStates which have not yet adopted the eurotake part in the meetings of a committeewhenever it deals with matters that fall withinthe field of competence of the General Council.Where appropriate, other competent bodies,such as national supervisory authorities in thecase of the Banking Supervision Committee,may also be invited. As at 31 December 2008,13 Eurosystem/ESCB committees had beenestablished under Article 9.1 of the Rules ofProcedure of the ECB.The Budget Committee, which was establishedunder Article 15 of the Rules of Procedure,assists the Governing Council in matters relatedto the ECB’s budget.The Human Resources Conference wasestablished in 2005 under Article 9a of theRules of Procedure as a forum for the exchangeof experience, expertise and information amongEurosystem/ESCB central banks in the field ofhuman resources management.In line with the Eurosystem mission statementand the organisational principles, which statethe aim of exploiting synergies within theEurosystem and achieving cost-efficiency gainsthrough economies of scale, the GoverningCouncil established the Eurosystem IT SteeringCommittee (EISC) in August 2007, with amandate to steer continuous improvement in theuse of IT within the Eurosystem. The EISC’sresponsibilities relate in particular to EurosystemIT governance, and it aims to increase theefficiency and effectiveness of the GoverningCouncil’s decision-making on Eurosystem/ESCBIT projects and operations. The EISC, composedof one member per Eurosystem central bank,reports to the Governing Council via theExecutive Board.1.6 CORPORATE GOVERNANCEIn addition to the decision-making bodies, thecorporate governance of the ECB encompassesa number of external and internal controllayers, three codes of conduct as well as rulesconcerning public access to ECB documents.EXTERNAL CONTROL LAYERSThe Statute of the ESCB provides for two layers,namely the external auditor, which is appointedto audit the annual accounts of the ECB(Article 27.1 of the Statute of the ESCB), and theEuropean Court of Auditors, which examines theoperational efficiency of the management of theECB (Article 27.2). The annual report of theEuropean Court of Auditors, together with theECB’s reply, is published on the ECB’s websiteand in the Official Journal of the European Union.In order to reinforce public assurance as to theindependence of the ECB’s external auditor,the principle of audit firm rotationis applied. 8 In 2008, in the context of theGoverning Council’s statutory task of makingrecommendations to the EU Council on theappointment of external auditors for the centralbanks of the ESCB, as provided for underArticle 27.1 of the Statute of the ESCB, theGoverning Council approved “Good practices forthe selection and mandate of External Auditors”,which were published on the ECB’s website.These good practices, which provide high-levelguidance for each Eurosystem central bank whenselecting external auditors and determining theirmandate thereafter, enable the Governing Councilto formulate its recommendations to the EUCouncil on the basis of harmonised, consistentand transparent selection criteria.8 KPMG Deutsche Treuhand-Gesellschaft AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaftwas the ECB’s external auditor for thefinancial years 2003-07. Following the conclusion of a tenderprocedure and in line with the agreed practice of rotatingaudit firms, PricewaterhouseCoopers AktiengesellschaftWirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft was appointed as the ECB’sexternal auditor for the financial years 2008-12.204 ECBAnnual Report2008