At present, IB has a total of five independent directors, three of which are members of the Audit and Related Transaction Control Committee of the Board of Directors, and one senior independent director is specialized in accounting and serves as the Chairman of the Committee.
At the system level, IB has formulated such rules as the Working System of Annual Report of Independent Directors and the Working Regulations of Audit and Related Transaction Control Committee of the Board of Directors on the Annual Report. Among the other things, the former provides that: “After the certified public accountant for annual auditing provides the preliminary auditing opinion and before a board meeting is convened to review the annual report, the Company shall arrange for at least one meeting with the participation of each independent director and the certified public accountant to discuss and communicate on the problems identified during the auditing. The independent directors shall perform the duties of participation in the meeting.” And the latter provides that: “The Committee should supervise and urge the certified public accountant for annual auditing to submit the auditing report within the agreed time limit. After the certified public accountant for annual auditing enters the Company, it should strengthen the communication between both parties and re-check and approve the IB’s financial statements after the preliminary auditing opinions have been submitted and formed the written opinions”.
In practice, IB’s independent directors actively strengthen the communication and interaction with external auditors. At the beginning of each year, an annual auditing work meeting of independent directors would be held to debrief the external auditor’s detailed report on the progress of IB’s annual auditing.
In addition, the IB’s Audit and Related Transaction Control Committee of the Board of Directors is also proactive in the communication with and guidance for the external auditor. It convenes four meetings at least each year and debriefs the reports of the external auditor about the annual auditing plan, annual auditing progress, summary of annual auditing, review results of the semi-annual report, etc., urges the external auditor to fulfill the statutory auditing services with high quality, requires the external auditor to give full play to the role of the independent third-party institution in prompting IB of the major concerns of risk points and major risk events timely and providing IB and its subsidiaries with professional consultation and advice regarding the strategic decisions, so as to promote the steady development of corporate business.