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Charter of the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors of Addax Petroleum Corporation

Mission Statement

The Board of Directors (the “Board”) of Addax Petroleum Corporation (the “Company”) will establish an Audit committee (the “Committee”) to assist the Board in fulfilling its obligations by overseeing and monitoring the Company's financial accounting and reporting process, its internal control over financial reporting and the external financial audit process.

Composition

The Committee shall consist of as many members as the Board shall determine from time to time but in any event, not fewer than three members of the Board. The initial members of the Committee shall be Wesley Twiss, Peter Dey, Brian Anderson, James Davie and Stephen de Heinrich. Each member of the Committee shall continue to be a member until a successor is appointed, unless the member resigns, is removed or ceases to be a member of the Board. The Board may fill a vacancy in the Committee at any time.

Members of the Committee shall be selected based upon the following and in accordance with applicable laws, rules and regulations. Each member shall be independent in accordance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements and in such regard shall have no direct or indirect material relationship with the Company which could, in the view of the Board, reasonably interfere with the exercise of a member's independent judgment. In addition, each member shall be financially literate or must become financially literate within a reasonable period of time after his or her appointment to the Committee. For these purposes, an individual is financially literate if he or she has the ability to read and understand a set of financial statements that present a breadth and level of complexity of accounting issues that are generally comparable to the breadth and complexity of the issues that can reasonably be expected to be raised by the Company's financial statements.

Chair and Secretary

The Chair of the Committee shall be designated by the Board. The initial Chair of the Committee shall be Wesley Twiss. If the Chair is not present at a meeting of the Committee, the members of the Committee may designate an interim Chair for the meeting by majority vote of the members present. The general counsel of the Company shall be the Secretary of the Committee meetings, provided that if the Secretary is not present, the Chair of the meeting may appoint a secretary for the meeting with the consent of the Committee members who are present.

Meetings

The Chair of the Committee, in consultation with the Committee members, shall determine the schedule and frequency of the Committee meetings provided that the Committee will meet at least four times in each fiscal year and at least once in every fiscal quarter. The Committee shall have the authority to convene additional meetings as circumstances require.

Notice of meetings shall be given to each member not less than five business days before the time of the meeting, provided that meetings of the Committee may be held without formal notice if all of the members of the Committee are present and do not object to notice not having been given, or if those absent waive notice in any manner before or after the meeting. Notice of meeting may be given verbally or delivered personally, given by mail, facsimile or other electronic means of communication and need not be accompanied by an agenda or any other material. The notice shall however specify the purpose or purposes for which the meeting is being held.

Notice of every meeting shall be given to the external and, if applicable, internal auditors of the Company, and meetings shall be convened whenever requested by the external auditors or any member of the Committee in accordance with applicable law. The Committee shall meet separately and periodically with management, legal counsel and the external auditors. The Committee shall meet separately with the external auditors at every meeting of the Committee at which external auditors are present.

Decisions or recommendations of the Committee shall be evidenced by resolutions passed at meetings of the Committee and recorded in the minutes of such meetings or by an instrument in writing signed by all members of the Committee. A copy of the draft minutes of each meeting of the Committee and any written resolutions evidencing decisions or recommendations of the Committee shall be transmitted promptly by the Secretary to each member for adoption at the next meeting. The Committee shall report to the Board at each regularly scheduled Board meeting next succeeding any Committee meeting or the signing of any written resolution evidencing a decision or recommendation of the Committee.

A majority of the members of the Committee shall constitute a quorum.

Any matter that the Committee does not unanimously approve will be referred to the Board for consideration.

Meeting Agendas

Where possible, agendas for meetings of the Committee shall be developed by the Chair of the Committee in consultation with management and the Secretary, and shall be circulated to Committee members as far in advance of each Committee meeting as is reasonable.

Resources and Authority

The Committee shall have the resources and the authority to discharge its responsibilities, including the authority, in its sole discretion, to engage, at the expense of the Company, outside consultants, independent legal counsel and other advisors and experts as it determines necessary to carry out its duties, without seeking approval of the Board or management of the Company.

The Committee shall have the authority to conduct any investigation necessary and appropriate to fulfilling its responsibilities, and has direct access to and the authority to communicate directly with the internal and external auditors, the general counsel of the Company and other officers and employees of the Company.

The members of the Committee shall have the right for the purpose of performing their duties to inspect all the books and records of the Company and any subsidiaries and to discuss such accounts and records and any matters relating to the financial position, risk management and internal controls of the Company with the officers and external and internal auditors of the Company and any subsidiaries. Any member of the Committee may require the external or internal auditors to attend any or every meeting of the Committee.

Responsibilities

The Company's management is responsible for preparing the Company's financial statements and the external auditors are responsible for auditing those financial statements. The Committee is responsible for overseeing the conduct of those activities by the Company's management and external auditors, and overseeing the activities of the internal auditors.

The specific responsibilities of the Committee shall include those listed below. The enumerated responsibilities are not meant to restrict the Committee from examining any matters related to its purpose.

  1. Financial Reporting Process and Financial Statements

    The Committee shall:

    1. in consultation with the external auditors and the internal auditors, review the integrity of the Company's financial reporting process both internal and external, and any major issues as to the adequacy of the internal controls and any special audit steps adopted in light of material control deficiencies;
    2. review all material transactions and material contracts entered into between or amongst (i) the Company or any subsidiary of the Company, and (ii) any subsidiary, director, officer, insider or related party of the Company, other than officer or employee compensation arrangements approved or recommended by the Remuneration Committee of the Board, or transactions in the ordinary course of business;
    3. review and discuss with management and the external auditors: (i) the preparation of Company's annual audited consolidated financial statements and its interim unaudited consolidated financial statements, as well as the Company’s annual and interim Management Discussion & Analysis (MD&A); (ii) whether the financial statements present fairly (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the Company as of and for the periods presented; (iii) any matters required to be discussed with the external auditors according to generally accepted auditing standards; and (iv) an annual report by the external auditors describing: (A) all critical accounting policies and practices used by the Company; (B) all material alternative accounting treatments of financial information within generally accepted accounting principles that have been discussed with management of the Company, including the ramifications of the use such alternative treatments and disclosures and the treatment preferred by the external auditors; and (C) other material written communications between the external auditors and management;
    4. following completion of the annual audit, review with each of: (i) management; (ii) the external auditors; and (iii) the internal auditors, any significant issues, concerns or difficulties encountered during the course of the audit;
    5. review the annual financial statements and reports (including annual MD&A) of the Company and any other documents including press releases containing financial information of the Company that is likely to be material and recommend approval thereof to the Board prior to the submission of such documents to the applicable securities regulatory authorities;
    6. review the interim financial statements and reports (including interim MD&A) of the Company and recommend approval thereof to the Board prior to the submission of such documents to the applicable securities regulatory authorities;
    7. resolve disagreements between management and the external auditors regarding financial reporting; and
    8. review disclosure procedures with the Disclosure Committee established in accordance with the Company’s Disclosure Policy, and be satisfied that adequate procedures are in place for the review of the public disclosure of financial information by the Company extracted or derived from the Company's financial statements, other than the disclosure referred to in the preceding paragraph, and periodically assess the adequacy of those procedures.
  2. External Auditors

    The Committee shall:

    1. require the external auditors to report directly to the Committee;
    2. be directly responsible for the selection, nomination, compensation, retention, termination and oversight of the work of the Company's external auditors engaged for the purpose of preparing or issuing an auditor's report or performing other audit, review or attest services for the Company, and in such regard recommend to the Board the external auditors to be nominated for approval by the shareholders;
    3. approve all audit engagements and pre-approve the provision by the external auditors of all non-audit services, including fees and terms for all audit engagements and non-audit engagements, and in such regard the Committee may establish the types of non-audit services the external auditors shall be prohibited from providing and shall establish the types of audit, audit related and non-audit services for which the Committee will retain the external auditors. The Committee may delegate to one or more of its members the authority to pre-approve non-audit services, provided that any such delegated pre-approval shall be exercised in accordance with the types of particular non audit services authorized by the Committee to be provided by the external auditor and the exercise of such delegated pre-approvals shall be presented to the full Committee at its next scheduled meeting following such pre-approval;
    4. review and approve the Company's policies for the hiring of partners and employees and former partners and employees of the external auditors;
    5. consider, assess and report to the Board with regard to the independence and performance of the external auditors; and
    6. request and review the audit plan of the external auditors as well as a report by the external auditors to be submitted at least annually regarding: (i) the internal quality-control procedures; and (ii) any material issues raised by the external auditor's own most recent internal quality-control review or peer review of the auditing firm, or by any inquiry or investigation by governmental or professional authorities within the preceding five years respecting one or more independent audits carried out by the external auditors, and any steps taken to deal with any such issues.
  3. Accounting Systems and Internal Controls

    The Committee shall:

    1. oversee management's design and implementation of and reporting on internal controls. The Committee shall also receive and review reports from management, the internal auditors and the external auditors on an annual basis with regard to the reliability and effective operation of the Company's accounting system and internal controls; and
    2. review quarterly and annually the activities, organization and qualifications of the internal auditors and discuss with the external auditors the responsibilities, budget and staffing of the internal audit function.
  4. Legal and Regulatory Requirements

    The Committee shall:

    1. review timely analysis by the Disclosure Committee of significant issues relating to public disclosure and reporting;
    2. review, prior to finalization, periodic public disclosure documents containing financial information, including the annual and interim financial statements, annual information form and MD&A and press releases and recommend approval of the foregoing to the Board prior to their disclosure or filing;
    3. prepare the report of the Committee required to be included in the Company’s periodic filings;
    4. review with the Company's internal counsel legal compliance matters, significant litigation and other legal matters that could have a significant impact on the Company's financial statements; and
    5. assist the Board in the oversight of compliance with legal and regulatory requirements and review with internal legal counsel the adequacy and effectiveness of the Company's procedures to ensure compliance with legal and regulatory responsibilities.
  5. Additional Responsibilities

    The Committee shall:

    1. discuss policies with the external auditor, internal auditor and management with espect to risk assessment and risk management;
    2. establish procedures and policies for (i) the receipt, retention, treatment and resolution of complaints received by the Company regarding accounting, internal accounting controls or auditing matters; and (ii) the confidential, anonymous submission by directors or employees of the Company of concerns regarding questionable accounting or auditing matters or any potential violations of legal or regulatory provisions;
    3. prepare and review with the Board an annual performance evaluation of the Committee;
    4. report regularly to the Board, including with regard to matters such as the quality or integrity of the Company's financial statements, compliance with legal or regulatory requirements, the performance of the internal audit function, and the performance and independence of the external auditors. Minutes of each meeting of the Committee shall be recorded and maintained and provided to the Board as soon as possible following the meeting; and
    5. review and reassess the adequacy of the Committee's Charter on an annual basis (but no alteration to the Committee's charter and the responsibilities of the Committee shall be effective without the approval of the Board).
  6. Limitation on the Oversight Role of the Committee

    Nothing in this Charter is intended, or may be construed, to impose on any member of the Committee a standard of care or diligence that is in any way more onerous or extensive than the standard to which all members of the Board are subject.

    Each member of the Committee shall be entitled, to the fullest extent permitted by law, to rely on the integrity of those persons and organizations within and outside the Company from whom he or she receives financial and other information, and the accuracy of the information provided to the Company by such persons or organizations.

    While the Committee has the responsibilities and powers set forth in this Charter, it is not the duty of the Committee to plan or conduct audits or to determine that the Company's financial statements and disclosures are complete and accurate and in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in Canada and applicable rules and regulations. These are the responsibility of management and the external auditors.

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