Business group governance

SCA's business units and supporting unit adhere to the principle of distinct decentralisation of responsibility and authority. They are fully responsible for developing their respective operations through established goals and strategies; a process that is also centrally coordinated.

The business units are responsible for their operating result, capital and cash flow. The position of the business and results are followed up by the entire Corporate Senior Management Team on monthly basis.

Each quarter, business review meetings are conducted where the management of each business unit personally meets the President, the CFO and others. These meetings function as a complement to the daily monitoring of operations.

Sustainability governance

The main purpose of all governance at SCA is to guarantee the Group's commitments to its stakeholders: shareholders, customers, employees, suppliers, lenders and communities.

SCA's Executive Management Team bears the overall responsibility for the control of SCA's business in the sustainability field.

SCA has a Group Function in charge of sustainability, led by the Sustainability Director.

Monitoring

In addition to being reviewed by SCA's external auditors, its operations are subject to external reviews and monitoring by, among others, the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority and Nasdaq Stockholm. Life cycle assessments are another example of third-party assessments.

SCA's own control systems include segregation of duties in critical processes and defined management responsibilities with regard to internal control. There is also a separate internal audit function at SCA that works to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of SCA's governance processes, risk management and internal control. SCA's Internal Audit organization contributes to the maintenance of high standards of business practice and is involved in the monitoring of Code of Conduct compliance through such activities as Code of Conduct audits at manufacturing sites and Business Practice audits. To support its work, the Internal Audit unit has a number of steering documents and policies.

Risk and risk management

SCA is exposed to various risks with a greater or lesser potential impact on the Group. The responsibility for long-term and overall management of material risks follows the company's delegation scheme, from the Board to the President, and from the President to the business unit presidents.