Combined assurance

According to the King Code of Governance for South Africa 2009 (King III), the Audit Committee is responsible for ensuring that a combined assurance model is applied to coordinate all assurance activities.

Principle 3.5 of the King III report introduces combined assurance as a recommended governance practice. This principle motivates that more can be done to improve assurance coverage and quality through better coordination of the internal and external assurance providers.

Combined Assurance is a coordinated approach of all assurance activities to ensure that assurance provided by management, internal assurance providers and external assurance providers adequately addresses all significant risks facing the company, and that suitable controls exist to mitigate and/or reduce these risks.

Good progress has been made in implementing the combined assurance model for the company. The combined assurance model is based on identified risks and how assurance is achieved and reported to the Board through the Audit and Risk Committee.

The Audit and Risk Committee is further responsible for monitoring the appropriateness of the company’s combined assurance model and confirming that significant risks facing the company are adequately addressed. It also monitors the relationship between external assurance providers and the company.