When does the term of office of the auditors end in Switzerland?
According to BGE 4A_387/2023 of May 2, 2024, the term of office of the auditors does not end after six months if the Annual General Meeting does not take place or the annual financial statements are not approved, but is automatically extended until the next Annual General Meeting.
It should be noted that the term of office of the auditors is not linked to the calendar year, but to the approval of the annual financial statements. It begins with an ordinary general meeting and ends with the approval of the last annual financial statements (Art. 730a para. 1 sentence 2 CO).
As early as 1936, the Federal Supreme Court ruled that the term of office of the auditors is automatically extended in the absence of a general meeting (BGE 86 II 171 E. 1).
In contrast to the Board of Directors, which is elected for a specific period of time, the statutory auditors are elected primarily for a specific task, namely auditing the annual financial statements.
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