Internal governance
In our view, good internal governance is crucial to maintaining a successful and sustainable organisation.
Governing business ethics
Vattenfall’s Code of Conduct and Integrity builds upon the four Vattenfall principles – open, active, positive and safety – and contains a number of rules built on the “think first” approach. It includes references to the Vattenfall Management System (VMS), which elaborates on these rules.
Vattenfall’s employees and other stakeholders have the opportunity to report serious improprieties anonymously through a whistleblowing function, either internally through a web-based whistleblowing channel or externally to one of the locally appointed external ombudsmen.
Vattenfall furthermore has a separate Code of Conduct for Suppliers and Partners.
CEO and Executive Group Management
The President of Vattenfall AB, who is also Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Vattenfall Group, is responsible for the day-to-day administration in accordance with the Swedish Companies Act.
The CEO has set up internal bodies for governance of the Group and makes decisions independently or with the support of these bodies. The most important are the Executive Group Management (EGM) and the Vattenfall Risk Committee (VRC).
The EGM focuses on the Group’s overall direction and addresses – within the framework of the CEO’s mandate from the Board of Directors – matters of importance for the Group.
The VRC focuses on decisions pertaining to risk mandates and credit limits, among other things, and exercises oversight of the risk management framework.
Both bodies conduct preparatory drafting work on matters that are to be
decided by the Board of Directors.
Read more about the EGM members
Internal Audit
Internal Audit is an independent and objective function that evaluates, recommends and monitors improvements to the effectiveness of Vattenfall’s risk management, internal controls and governance processes throughout the Group. This also applies to compliance with Vattenfall’s governance documents, including the Code of Conduct and Integrity.
The function is directly subordinate to the Board of Directors and Audit Committee. It performs its work risk-based and in accordance with an established internal audit plan. The Head of Internal Audit reports administratively to the President and informs the management teams of the business units and other units about audit activities that have been performed.
The Vattenfall Management System (VMS)
The most important internal rules for governing Vattenfall are found in the Vattenfall Management System (VMS). The VMS is the group system to develop, align and implement the rules and requirements decided by the Board, the President and the Group Staff Functions. It covers the Group steering, while local management systems cover specific business and functional steering. The VMS consists of binding policies and instructions. Certain central documents are approved by the Board of Directors of Vattenfall AB.
The VMS is an integrated management system that applies for the entire Vattenfall Group, with the limitations that may arise from legal requirements.
Corporate Governance report
The Corporate Governance Report describes the most important elements of the VMS, including Vattenfall's governance of sustainability issues. The Corporate Governance Report also describes the most important elements in our system of internal control and risk management in connection with the financial reporting.
Organisation
Vattenfall’s organisational structure comprises six Business areas. Central Staff Functions support and direct the business activities.
The legal structure differs from the business structure. Governance is conducted financially, non-financially (such as through Staff Functions) and operationally. Unit scorecards and the VMS are the most important governance tools.
