Recommendation of the Board
Our Board recommends that you vote, based on the recommendation of the audit committee, FOR the ratification of the appointment of Grant Thornton LLP to serve as the independent auditor for the Company and the Trust for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2022.
Our audit committee is composed of three independent directors, all of whom are financially literate. In addition, the Board has determined that Mr. Bottiglieri, an independent director and the chairman of the audit committee, qualifies as audit committee financial expert as defined by the SEC. The audit committee operates under a written charter, which reflects the NYSE listing standards and Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002, as amended, requirements regarding audit committees. A copy of the current audit committee charter is available on the Company’s website at www.compassdiversified.com.
The audit committee’s primary role is to assist the Board in fulfilling its responsibility for oversight of (1) the quality and integrity of the consolidated financial statements and related disclosures, (2) compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, (3) the independent auditor’s qualifications, independence and performance, and (4) the performance of our internal audit and control functions.
The Company’s management is responsible for the preparation of the financial statements, the financial reporting process and the system of internal controls. The independent auditors are responsible for performing an audit of the financial statements in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States and issuing an opinion as to the conformity of those audited financial statements to U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. The audit committee monitors and oversees these processes.
The audit committee has adopted a policy designed to ensure proper oversight of our independent auditor. Under the policy, the audit committee is directly responsible for the appointment, compensation, retention and oversight of the work of any registered public accounting firm engaged for the purpose of preparing or issuing an audit report or performing any other audit review (including resolution of disagreements among management, the Manager, and the auditor regarding financial reporting), or attestation services. In addition, the audit committee is responsible for pre-approving any non-audit services provided by the Company’s independent auditors. The audit committee’s charter also ensures that the independent auditor discusses with the audit committee important issues such as internal controls, critical accounting policies, any instances of fraud and the consistency and appropriateness of our accounting policies and practices.
The audit committee has reviewed and discussed with management and Grant Thornton LLP, the Company’s independent auditor, the audited financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2021. The audit committee has also discussed with Grant Thornton LLP the matters required to be discussed by the applicable requirements of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”) and the SEC. In addition, the audit committee has received the written disclosures and the letter from the independent auditor required by applicable requirements of the PCAOB regarding the independent auditor’s communications with the audit committee concerning independence, and has discussed with the independent auditor the independent auditor’s independence. The audit committee also considered whether the non-audit services provided by Grant Thornton LLP to us during 2021 were compatible with its independence as auditor.
Based on these reviews and discussions, the audit committee has recommended to the Board, and the Board has approved, the inclusion of the audited financial statements in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021.
Members of the Audit Committee
James J. Bottiglieri, Chairman
Larry L. Enterline
Harold S. Edwards
The information contained in the report above shall not be deemed to be “soliciting material” or to be “filed” with the SEC, nor shall such information be incorporated by reference into any future filing under the Exchange Act or the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, except to the extent that we specifically incorporate it by reference in such filing.