Arla Foods Consolidated Annual Report 2021
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Arla Foods Consolidated Annual Report 2021 Risk and Compliance / Our work with controls and compliance
OUR WORK WITH CONTROLS AND COMPLIANCE
To be a compliant company and prevent fraud is a key business priority for Arla. We are committed
to acting with integrity, respect and in a transparent way, according to principles set in our Code of
Conduct. We recognise that our reputation and success are dependent on the behaviour of our
employees, thus we take violations of the Code of Conduct seriously.
Policy Framework
We continuously work on improving our corporate
policies to reflect local legislations and our values
and commitments as stated in our Code of
Conduct. Our policies govern general employee
behaviour in key areas of good business conduct,
guide us to act responsibly and with integrity, and
govern our ways of working as one aligned and
efficient Arla.
In 2021, we published our Grievance Policy, as an
integrated part of our new whistle-blower system.
The system was updated and simplified in response
to the new EU directive on the protection of
persons who report breaches of Union law.
Concerns now can be raised by reporting to
relevant managers or through the whistle-blower
system, where we offer anonymous reporting by
applying strict principles of confidentiality and
ensure that no retaliatory action will be taken
against the person who reports the violation.
To comply with the new Danish regulations
concerning corporate reporting, we also developed
our Data Ethics Policy, involving several stakeholders
from across the business. The policy aims to
establish a high standards for data ethics that Arla
aspires to adhere to, and to emphasize our
commitment to a responsible use of data. As per
the policy, when we decide to use data as part of
our business, we are applying the guiding principles
for data ethics focusing on: (a) Human dignity (b)
Responsibility (c) Equality and fairness and (d)
Progressiveness. The policy will be published in
2022 with an awareness campaign and training of
relevant employees.
Internal controls
We maintain a coherent system of internal controls,
which are regularly assessed for effectiveness and
adequacy.
In 2021, we progressed on our internal control
framework and monitoring of our procedures to
avoid negligence and misconduct across business
processes.
In 2022, we will expand our control environment
and reporting with climate related financial
disclosures in line with our strategic focus on
sustainability amd new external reporting
requirements.
Investigations
Openness and trust are among our core values and
incorporated into our Code of Conduct. If employees
or our stakeholders believe that our Code of
Conduct has been violated, we encourage them
to report these violations.
In 2021, we saw an insignificant increase in the
number of reported fraud allegations compared to
2020. None of the investigations resulted in
material financial losses to the group, but they
provided us with valuable knowledge about
the state of our control environment. For
more details on whistle-blower reports
please refer to the sustainability report.
☑Read more in our
sustainability report.
7 Go to our corporate website to read our Code of Conduct.
Code
of Conduct
Policies
Processes, procedures
and standards
Guidelines and instructions
Our governance framework
Contents
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