The mandate follows a component through its entire consequence chain
The Audit and Risk Chair must be able to begin with a customer programme and follow it through design, sourcing, tooling, production, quality, dispatch, cash and field performance. Each stage can change the accounts and the risk profile. The Board is looking for a director who can identify where optimistic commercial assumptions, operational evidence and financial judgement diverge.
Programme economics
Material nominations should show expected volume and mix, customer schedules, price-reset clauses, development responsibility, tooling ownership, localisation, working capital, qualification and downside. Engineering change and customer recovery must enter forecasts promptly. The Chair will examine whether revenue, margins and capital are supported by acceptance and cash rather than programme optimism.
Supply network
Critical materials, components and processes should be mapped beyond immediate suppliers. Sole-source exposure, financial fragility, geopolitical restrictions, counterfeit prevention, long lead times, obsolescence and alternate qualification belong in Board risk. Inventory buffers will be judged against cash, redesign and shelf-life consequences.
Quality and field risk
The committee will receive evidence on process capability, internal and external defects, concessions, rework, line stoppage, warranty, field events and corrective action. A recurring small defect can be strategically material before the provision is large. Traceability should survive plants, systems and subcontractors.
Financial and control remit
The Audit agenda includes inventory, capex, revenue, provisions, customer debit notes, foreign exchange, government incentives where applicable, related parties, procurement integrity, fraud and IT access. Post-investment reviews should distinguish equipment installed, capacity qualified, utilisation achieved and cash return realised.
Cyber-physical and continuity risk
Plant systems, engineering repositories, remote vendor access and customer data require integrated governance. The Chair will seek evidence of segmentation, access, backup, restoration and safe manual operation. A cyber scenario should consider quality, shipment, customer notification and financial reporting—not only system recovery.
NRC and CSR connection
As an NRC member, the director will examine succession for operations, quality, engineering, finance and commercial leadership and whether incentives encourage escalation. CSR oversight will focus on measurable outcomes, responsible sourcing and plant-community integrity.
Entry assignment and candidate profile
The Chair's first assignment will trace one material programme from bid case to current cash and field performance, then use the gaps to reset Audit and Risk agendas. Candidates should bring senior automotive, industrial, finance, audit, quality or enterprise-risk leadership. Dual-chair experience is preferred. Independence, DIN, databank compliance and willingness to visit plants are mandatory.
How the two committees will decide
Audit will determine whether reported positions and controls are supportable; Risk will determine whether the exposure remains acceptable and what action is required. The same evidence may produce different decisions. The Chair must preserve that distinction, ensure conclusions are reconciled at Board level and prevent a favourable accounting treatment from being presented as proof that the underlying risk is well managed.