Auditing Association

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A (cooperative) auditing association in Germany is an association - usually a registered association - of which cooperatives are members and which carries out the statutory audits.

Legal bases

Every registered cooperative in Germany is legally obliged to belong to an auditing association and to be audited by it.

Section 4 of the Genossenschaftsgesetz (GenG) is decisive for this .

According to § 63 GenG, the right to examine is granted to an association by the supervisory authority of the federal state in which it is based. This authority is also responsible for the supervision of the association and can, if necessary, order the suspension of the examination right or withdraw it from the association (§§ 64, 56, 64a).

The prerequisites for granting the right to take examinations result from §§ 63a - 63c:

  • Legal form: The association should be a registered association and must not have any intention of making a profit.
  • Members may only be:
    • registered cooperatives;
    • Companies or other associations that
      • are wholly or predominantly in the hands of registered cooperatives or
      • serve the cooperative system;
    • Others only exceptionally for an important reason;
    • Housing companies that were recognized as non-profit or as organs of state housing policy on December 31, 1989 and belonged to the respective auditing association at that time (according to § 162 GenG).
  • Purpose of the association
    • must be: the examination of its members, who are registered cooperatives;
    • Beyond that, it may only be: the common protection of the interests of its members, in particular the maintenance of mutual business relationships.
  • The statutes should u. a. Provisions contain the selection and qualification of the examiners as well as the type and scope of the examinations.

Sections 53 - 53a stipulate the obligation to test and - depending on the size of the cooperative - the (annual or biennial) cycle and scope of the test. Section 55 contains regulations on the person of the examiner (in particular avoidance of bias), Section 57 on the examination procedure. The result of the examination is to be established in a written report, which is to be submitted to the organs of the cooperative and to be advised by them (§§ 58 - 60).

For the registration of a cooperative in the cooperative register , the founding examination by an auditing association is a prerequisite according to ( § 11 Paragraph 2 No. 3 GenG).

In addition to state supervision, the auditing associations are subject pursuant to §§ 63e - 63h a quality check by the Chamber of Auditors , at any rate where at least one cooperative as to be checked Member have the size as defined by § 53 satisfies para 2 sentence 1 GenG.. For these auditing associations, there is a registration requirement in accordance with Section 40a of the Wirtschaftsprüferordnung .

Auditing Associations in Germany

In Germany there are u. a. the following cooperative auditing associations.

( Top and federal associations that are not auditing associations themselves are listed in italics .)

In the DGRV

industry-specific and regional associations that are part of the German Cooperative and Raiffeisen Association e. V. are organized:

Regional examination associations

Associations of the cooperative banks

Other industry associations

Professional examination associations

  • EDEKA Association of Commercial Cooperatives e. V.
  • REWE -Prüfungsverband e. V.
  • Fachprüfungsverband von Produktivgenossenschaften in Mitteldeutschland e. V. (FPV)
  • Auditing Association of the German Transport, Service and Consumer Cooperatives V.

In the GdW

In the GdW Federal Association of German Housing and Real Estate Companies e. V .:

  • 14 regional associations
    (Some of these have both housing cooperatives and formerly non-profit housing companies as members; in some regions, however, the housing cooperatives form their own association. Those regional associations that have housing cooperatives as members each act as an auditing association for them.)
  • (The Cooperative Association - Association of Regions is also a member here.)

DGRV and GdW cooperate with each other; u. a. Together they form the so-called Free Committee of the German Cooperative Associations, which serves "the exchange of ideas and experiences on fundamental issues of the cooperative system as well as the representation of the overall interests of the cooperative system vis-à-vis the public and legislators".

Auditing associations with their own central association function

According to the statutes, it (also) performs the tasks of a central association within the meaning of the GenG:

  • Auditing Association of German Consumer and Service Cooperatives (PdK)

Auditing associations without a central association

  • COOPERATIVaudit Genossenschaftlicher Prüfverband eV, Annaberg-Buchholz
  • Agricultural auditing and consulting association eV
  • Auditing Association of Small and Medium-Sized Cooperatives V. (PKMG)
  • Potsdam Auditing Association V.
  • Auditing Association of German Banks V.
  • PDG Genossenschaftlicher Prüfverband e. V.
  • GVTS-Genossenschaftsverband Thüringen-Sachsen eV
  • German-European Cooperative and Auditing Association (formerly pvdp Auditing Association of German Economic, Social and Cultural Cooperatives)
  • PSU Cooperative Auditing Association Saale-Unstrut e. V.
  • Cooperative Auditing Association Mecklenburg-Vorpommern eV

Non-cooperative auditing associations

Auditing associations outside of cooperative law are u. a .:

history

Establishment and development of the auditing associations until 1933

The first cooperative association in Germany was brought into being in Weimar in 1859 by Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch , who had started establishing cooperatives ten years earlier. At that time 29 associations, about a quarter of the then known cooperatives, formed the "Central Correspondence Bureau of German Advance and Credit Associations". Initially only credit unions were members, but the other types quickly joined them. Schulze-Delitzsch took over the management. In 1864 the “Bureau” became the “General Association of Self-Help-Based German Acquisitions and Business Cooperatives”. The advisory activities of the association and its regional sub-associations, which have existed since 1860, also included advice and recommendations on the economically relevant figures from the start, i.e. a kind of test if requested by the cooperatives. In 1878 the auditing system became an official part of the sub-associations and three years later the association members were obliged to be audited by their association. Revision was the official name for the test until 1934.

In 1901, Karl Korthaus founded the main association of commercial trade associations , which mainly comprised craftsmen's associations. Here, too, the rights of revision lay with the sub-associations. But as early as 1920 the General Association and the Main Association merged to form the "German Cooperative Association", to which around 3,200 cooperatives belonged in 1932.

For the agricultural cooperatives of Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen , the loan association, the “Lawyers' Association of Rural Cooperatives” was founded in Neuwied in 1877 . Later he called himself the “General Association of Rural Cooperatives for Germany”. He had numerous sub-associations that carried out the revision. Since 1883, the members were also obliged by association resolution to have themselves audited by their sub-association.

The Hessian loan fund associations stayed away from the founding of Raiffeisen. Wilhelm Haas founded his own association for them in 1879, which then expanded to include all of Germany under the name “Reich Association of German Agricultural Cooperatives”. The Reich Association and the General Association merged in 1930 to form the “Reich Association of German Agricultural Cooperatives - Raiffeisen - e. V. “, which was a new foundation under association law. In 1932 it had almost 36,000 rural cooperatives as members, of which a little over 72% came from the former Reichsverband, a good 20% from the Raiffeisen Association and the rest of over 7% from smaller associations.

On the side of the consumer cooperatives, 585 associations in Dresden formed the “Central Association of German Consumer Associations”, ZdK, also with district audit associations. Independently of this, in 1908 Catholic-oriented consumer cooperatives founded the "Association of West German Consumers", which since 1913 has been called the "Reich Association of German Consumers". The ZdK had around 1,000 members in 1932, the Reichsverband 250.

After 1889 separate auditing associations for building cooperatives were set up (today generally referred to as housing cooperatives ). The first founding took place in 1896. 14 of these associations formed in 1920 the "Association of German Building Cooperative Associations", since 1924 the "Main Association of German Building Cooperatives". In 1932 there were around 2,700 building cooperatives. Of the approximately 51,600 cooperatives in 1932, every sixth (17%) either belonged to a very small association outside of those mentioned here or was without any association.

Legal regulations for revision until 1933

Until 1889 there was no legal basis for the revision of cooperatives, not even with regard to the auditing associations. Most associations had internal regulations, according to which their members had to be audited at various intervals - at most every three years - by an auditor appointed by the association. The unassociated cooperatives were not even subject to this internal constraint. In 1889 the cooperative law was revised and received a separate section for revision. According to this, the revision of a cooperative had to be carried out at least every two years by an expert auditor. In the case of cooperatives that did not belong to any association, the auditor was judicially appointed at the request of the cooperative. The “higher administrative authority” had to agree with the “person of the auditor”. For cooperatives that belonged to an association, the association had to appoint the auditor. The prerequisite for this was the state approval of the right of an association to appoint auditors. The statute of the association had to be submitted to the competent court and the “higher administrative authority”. The General Association strongly criticized the draft law. The fact that government agencies were now able to intervene in the association autonomy of the audit associations was perceived as a restriction on the freedoms of the cooperatives. From the beginning, even for Schulze-Delitzsch, the distance from the state was an important cooperative asset.

Cooperatives and auditing associations in the time of National Socialism

In the period that followed, various, especially conservative, circles repeatedly discussed a revision of the regulations governing the revision of cooperatives, but the voluntary nature of membership in an auditing association was not questioned in these discussions. This situation did not change until 1933. From the end of 1932 an amendment to the cooperative law was discussed, with the aim of tightening certain revision regulations, which from now on was generally referred to as “examination”. This included clearer requirements for the cooperative auditors (until then: auditors), shortening the audit deadlines and the possibility of special audits. The concrete preparations for the change in the law began with a proposal from the Deutsche Zentralgenossenschaftskasse (DZGK). Then there were statements by the associations and finally in 1934 a draft law by the Reich Ministry of Justice . The draft contained three essential provisions unchanged: Cooperatives belonging to an association to which the right of examination is granted are examined by the association; for cooperatives that do not belong to any association, the auditor is appointed by the court; the board of directors of the cooperative has to apply for the appointment. The cooperative associations have never demanded that they be affiliated with an auditing association, not even the Reich Association of Agricultural Cooperatives - Raiffeisen, which was brought into line by the National Socialists in 1933. The associations were still too shaped by the origins and traditions of the German cooperative movement to commit such a betrayal of the cooperative world of thought on their own initiative.

Only the last draft of the ministry, which came about without the involvement of the associations, contained the so-called connection obligation in Section 54: "The cooperative must belong to an association to which the auditing rights are granted (auditing association)." The law learned on the basis of the National Socialist No parliamentary advice whatsoever under the Enabling Act. It was announced on October 30, 1934. The signatures of Adolf Hitler and his Reich Minister of Justice sufficiently legitimized it. The reasons were obvious. On the one hand, it was possible to integrate the cooperatives into the Nazi forced economy and thus subject them to the leadership and supervision of the state and to enforce the Führer principle here too.

Now the DGV-affiliated commentators on the Cooperative Act Johann Lang (from 1926 to 1961 in a leading position at the DGV without interruption) and Ludwig Weidmüller enthusiastically welcomed this change in the law. In the edition of their commentary from 1938 it says: “A new chapter in the history of the German cooperative law began with the national uprising of the German people under its leader and Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler in 1933. National Socialist ideas found expression in several extensive amendments to the cooperative law which testify to the will of the National Socialist state for an intensive further development of the German cooperative law. "

After 1945, in their comment from 1951, they stated that in 1933/34 the associations had wished to be compulsory.

The legal obligation for all cooperatives to become a member of a cooperative auditing association is a "German specialty". Cooperatives in Germany, like all other legal forms, cannot freely choose their auditor. This is a competitive disadvantage. For the associations, it means an area that is almost completely free of competition - the three large regional associations have divided the federal states among themselves, and the regional principle is mutually respected. This secures their financing. When looking at the annual financial statements - around 50% of the balance sheet total as pension provisions are not uncommon - this is also necessary. Around 1 billion members of the cooperative worldwide and their successful development in a wide variety of industries show that voluntary merger in associations - successfully - is possible.

literature

  • Wilhelm Frankenberger: Special features and efficiency of the compulsory cooperative audit in a changing environment. In: Genossenschaftsverband Bayern (Ed.): Cooperatives. Guiding principles and perspectives. Vahlen, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-8006-2096-0 .
  • Hartmut Glenk: Cooperative auditing. In: Cooperative Law. Systematics and practice of the cooperative system. 2nd Edition. CH Beck, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-406-63313-3 .
  • Bernd Marcus: Compulsory membership in the cooperative associations as auditing, support and interest groups (= cooperation and cooperative scientific contributions . Volume 12). Regensberg, Münster 1985, ISBN 3-7923-0532-1 .
  • Burchard Bösche , Rainer Walz (Ed.): How much testing does the association need - how much testing can the cooperative take? Contributions to the symposium on June 10, 2005 at the Bucerius Law School Hamburg, Mauke, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-931518-62-0 .
  • Wilhelm Kaltenborn : Repressed Past. The historical roots of the compulsory connection of the cooperatives to auditing associations. Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2015, ISBN 978-3-7347-6148-5 .
  • Wilhelm Kaltenborn: The overwhelming: The German cooperatives 1933/34, the obligation to join and the consequences , Norderstedt 2020, ISBN 978-3750427723

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wilhelm Kaltenborn: Repressed Past. The historical roots of the compulsory connection of the cooperatives to auditing associations. Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2015, ISBN 978-3-7347-6148-5 .