Based on the proposal of the Board of Directors, the Assembly of Delegates of the Federation of Migros Cooperatives elects an independent auditing company as the external Board of Control. The Board of Control is appointed for a term of office of two years and may be reappointed.
Based on the recommendations of the Audit Committee of the Federation of Migros Cooperatives (FMC), the FMC Board of Directors proposes an independent auditing company to be elected by the Assembly of Delegates.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) was chosen as FMC’s auditor for the first time in July 2000 (previously Schweizerische Treuhand Gesellschaft – Coopers & Lybrand AG); it has been confirmed as auditor of the FMC Board of Control and the Migros Group until 30 June 2022.
Based on the recommendation of the committees of the ten regional Migros Cooperatives, the boards of directors propose an independent auditing company to the Cooperative Councils or voting circles for election. PwC was elected as the Board of Control of the Migros Cooperatives for the first time in 2012. It is elected as auditor of the subsidiaries of the FMC as part of the overall mandate.
As announced in 2020, Migros put the mandate for the statutory auditor of the FMC and its subsidiaries, and for all companies, pension funds and other foundations affiliated with the cooperative association, out to tender. This decision is based on the principle of sound corporate management, which recommends a tender process at regular, longer-term intervals.
On 6 November 2021, the FMC Assembly of Delegates approved the FMC Board of Directors’ proposal to elect the auditing company EY (Ernst & Young) as the new Board of Control for the financial years 2022 to 2023. These 2022 group financial statements were audited in full for the first time by EY.
The Board of Control is responsible for assessing the consolidated financial statements with regard to their compliance with Swiss GAAP FER and Swiss law, and the compliance of the separate financial statements of the Federation of Migros Cooperatives, the ten regional Cooperatives and other Group companies.
EY invoiced the following fees for services rendered across the Group relating to the 2022 annual financial statements: The fees for services performed in 2021 were invoiced by PwC
In CHF 1’000 |
2022 |
2021 |
Auditing services |
5’440 |
3’417 |
Other regular services |
1’055 |
484 |
Other strategic services 1 |
0 |
10’239 |
Total |
6’495 |
14’140 |
1 The other strategic services include the continuation of advisory support for system implementations. This process was selected in consultation with the Audit Committee, in order not to further restrict the number of potential auditing companies in the above-mentioned tender process.
The auditing services include the following duties:
Miscellaneous other services cover the areas of tax consulting, accounting and due diligence audits performed in 2022 and 2021. Strategic other services include advisory support for system implementations that were carried out by the previous auditor PwC due to its specific consulting expertise in this area.