Guidelines for Payment of Fees for Attendance at Meetings of FRC Committees

  1. These Guidelines set out the circumstances in which a member of the FRC is entitled to receive fees for attendance at a meeting of a Committee of the FRC.
  2. In these Guidelines, expressions have the following meanings:
    Committee: the Audit Independence Subcommittee, FRC Nominations Committee or any other sub-grouping of FRC members established by resolution of the FRC for the purpose of providing advice, or assistance, to the FRC in the performance of its functions; Daily fee: the 'per diem' fee determined by the Minister, pursuant to subsection 235A(2) of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001, for members of the FRC1; Meeting includes:
    1. a formally convened meeting of a Committee;
    2. in the case of the Audit Independence Subcommittee – a meeting between representatives of the Subcommittee and an MOU body or other stakeholder body held for the purpose of gathering information needed for the performance of the FRC's auditor independence function; and
    3. in the case of the FRC Nominations Committee – interviewing applicants for appointment to the AASB or AUASB or other activities associated with the process of the FRC making such appointments, where these activities are not undertaken at a formally convened meeting of the Committee.
  3. Subject to paragraphs 4 and 5, a member of a Committee shall be entitled to a fee for attending, either in person or by telephone, a meeting of the Committee. The amount of the fee to be paid shall be determined as follows:
    1. for meetings of not less than three hours, the daily fee;
    2. for meetings aggregating less than two hours, an amount equal to two-fifths of a daily fee; and
    3. for meetings of two hours or more, but less than three hours, an amount equal to three-fifths of a daily fee.
  4. The maximum payment in respect of any one day shall be an amount equal to the daily fee.
  5. A member of a Committee shall not be entitled to a fee:
    1. where the member is excluded by the Minister's determination from receiving a daily fee for attending meetings of the FRC2;
    2. where meetings of the FRC and a Committee are held on the same day, and the member has received the daily fee for attending the FRC meeting.
  6. These Guidelines are effective for Committee meetings held on or after 1 January 2006.
  7. The Guidelines are to be reviewed by the FRC at the first meeting held on or after 1 July in each calendar year.

 

1 As at 1 July 2013, the fee determined by the Minister was $918 per diem.

2 The Minister's determination provides that per diem sitting fees are not payable to the FRC Chairman, the New Zealand representative on the FRC and each FRC member who holds any office or appointment, or is otherwise employed, on a full-time basis in the service or employment of (i) the Commonwealth, (ii) an incorporated company limited by guarantee where the interests and rights of the members in or in relation to the company are beneficially owned by the Commonwealth, (iii) an incorporated company all the stock or shares in the capital of which is or are beneficially owned by the Commonwealth, and (iv) a public statutory corporation of the Commonwealth.