Grace has established corporate governance principles, business ethics, and conflicts of interest policies to guide employees in their daily business interactions. The policies reaffirm Grace's commitment to comply with all applicable laws and be governed by the highest level of business ethics. In addition, Grace's Environment, Health, and Safety (EHS) Management System is Grace company policy, with all appropriate audit and compliance procedures.
Policies and Delegation of Authority
A comprehensive set of policies and procedures is an important part of establishing and maintaining effective internal controls. Policies are prepared under the direction of the Chief Executive Officer, and made available to all employees. Easily accessible, up-to-date policies help provide an authoritative guide to Grace's business philosophy, structure, requirements for authorization of various transactions, as well as statements of business practices and policies in specific areas.
An overview explaining matters such as application to subsidiaries and joint ventures, delegations of authority, statements of Grace business practices and policies, as well as procedures for the issuance and use of policies, is provided to all employees in a Grace Policy and Organization Guide.
Employees are invited to suggest changes in the substance or format of any policy at any time by contacting the Legal Department.
Internal Audit
Grace continuously seeks to improve results, manage risk, and strengthen the trust among our employees, customers, and investors. The Internal Audit team provides independent, objective, and high-quality assessment of Grace's system of internal controls and processes. Internal Audit team members partner with leaders and managers as consultants to meet shared strategic goals by strengthening internal controls and reducing risks associated with our financial, operational, and compliance processes. Internal Audit finds solutions to potential issues through system and process audits and advisory engagements.
Internal Audit conducts an annual risk assessment and identifies assurance and advisory projects based on input from management, knowledge of the enterprise risks, understanding and analysis of the strategic plan and annual operating plan, and knowledge of planned changes to the company including system implementations, functional transformations, and acquisitions.
Management requests Internal Audit's assistance after the annual plan has been set. These could include both assurance and advisory projects that have surfaced because of an issue or emerging risk. As the need arises, Internal Audit investigates potential fraud or other violations of company policy based on a report (ethics hotline, email or call to Human Resources, Legal, or Internal Audit) or audit finding.