Financial reporting

Financial statements

Rio Tinto Directors are required to prepare financial statements for each financial period to give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Group and of the profit or loss and cash flows for that period. In addition, the UK Corporate Governance Code requires the Board provides a fair, balanced and understandable assessment of the Company's position and prospects in its external reporting.

The Directors are also responsible for maintaining proper accounting records, in accordance with the UK and Australian law. They have a general responsibility for taking such steps as are reasonably open to them to safeguard the assets of the Group and to prevent and detect fraud and other irregularities.

External auditors

Selection and Appointment and Rotation of Engagement Partners

We have adopted policies designed to uphold the independence of the Group's external auditors by prohibiting their engagement to provide other accounting and other professional services that might compromise their independence. Further details about the external auditors' independence can be found in the Annual Report.

KPMG LLP and KPMG (together, KPMG) are the auditors of Rio Tinto plc and Rio Tinto Limited respectively. KPMG was appointed the external auditors in 2020.

KPMG will follow the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002 and APB Ethical Standards and rotate both the lead UK and Australian audit partners at least every 5 years.

Disclosure controls and procedures

The Group maintains disclosure controls and procedures as the term is defined in the US Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(e).

Management, with the participation of the chief executive and chief financial officer, evaluate the effectiveness of the design and operation of the Group's disclosure controls and procedures pursuant to US Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(b) as of the end of each financial reporting period.

More details on internal controls are set out in the Governance Report of the Annual Report.

Integrity of corporate reports

We have a thorough and rigorous review process in place to ensure integrity of the periodic reports we release to the market. Rio Tinto communicates with the market through accurate, clear, concise and effective reporting, and contents of periodic reports are verified by the subject matter experts and reviewed by the relevant Group functions. Such reports are then reviewed and considered by the Group Disclosure Committee for release to the market.

Risk management

Our company is exposed to a variety of risks that can have financial, operational and compliance impacts on our business performance, reputation and licence to operate.

The Board recognises that creating shareholder returns is the reward for taking and accepting risk. The effective management of risk is therefore critical to supporting the delivery of the Group's strategic objectives.

The Group's approach to risk management, underpinned by the Risk Policy & Standard, aims to embed a risk-aware culture in all decision-making, as well as a commitment to managing risk in a proactive, effective manner. This includes the early identification and evaluation of risks, the management and mitigation of risks before they materialise, and dealing with them effectively in the event they do materialise. Accountability for risk management is clear throughout the Group and is a key performance area of line managers.

To support risk understanding and management at all levels, our Risk function provides the necessary infrastructure to support the management and reporting of material risks within the Group, and escalates key issues through the management team and ultimately to the Board where appropriate. Group Risk also supports the Risk Management Committee (an executive management committee chaired by the Chief Executive) in its review of risk.

The process for identifying, evaluating and managing the material business risks is designed to manage, rather than eliminate, risk and where appropriate accept risk to generate returns. Certain risks, such as natural disasters, cannot be managed using internal controls. Such major risks are transferred to third parties in the international insurance markets, to the extent considered appropriate or possible.

Independent consultant review on impairment, disclosures and project risk

On 22 November 2023, Rio Tinto announced that it had reached a court approved settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of a suit brought in 2017 concerning disclosure of the impairment of Rio Tinto Coal Mozambique (RTCM) reflected in Rio Tinto’s 2012 year-end accounts.  Without admitting to or denying the SEC’s allegations related to its books, records and reporting requirements, Rio Tinto agreed to pay a USD 28 million penalty and retain an independent consultant (IC) to advise on its current policies, procedures, and controls related to impairment, disclosures and project risk.

Rio Tinto is pleased to report that the IC retained as a result of the favourable settlement has completed its initial report following a robust review with which Rio Tinto fully cooperated.  Below is a summary of the IC’s report and recommendations.

  • IC Report and Recommendations summary

    On 22 December 2025, the IC completed its review and evaluation and delivered a report to the Company and the SEC containing its findings and recommendations. The IC considered whether Rio Tinto’s policies, procedures and controls as they relate to impairment, project risks, and periodic review and internal audit are reasonably designed to ensure compliance with IAS 36 and IFRS. The retention also included the review and evaluation of whether such policies, procedures and controls provide reasonable assurance that all required impairments of assets within the Relevant Accounting Standards, are recorded and disclosed as required by applicable United States federal securities laws, rules and regulations. 

    The review of the IC was conducted over a two-year period and included site visits to Australia, Canada, Guinea, Mongolia and USA as well as corporate offices located in London, Perth and Montreal. The company provided over 1,300 documents and arranged in-person discussions with approximately 120 individuals to provide the IC with a comprehensive understanding of the business.

    The materials provided included organizational charts, policies and procedures, Audit & Risk Committee documentation, data and documentation related to the impairment process, including SOX compliance to support the financial reporting process.  The IC was additionally provided with risk registers, documentation from our three lines of defense program, code of conduct, internal audit reports and cultural surveys to support the integrity of process and control operators including ‘tone from the top’.

    The IC made 27 recommendations concerning proposed improvements to Rio Tinto’s relevant policies, procedures, and controls in order to better facilitate the identification, assessment, escalation, and documentation of impairment indicators and project risks related to impairment indications. These recommendations were grouped as follows:

    1. Impairment process

    a. Assessment of impairment indicators

    b. Valuations - recoverable amount

    c. Reporting structure/impairment culture

    d. Documentation

    e. Policies and procedures related to impairment 

    2. Risk management, periodic review and internal audit

    a. Risk management process 

    b. Risk policies and procedures

    c. Three lines of defense program 

    d. SOX program

    e. Internal audit

    3. Undue influence/corporate culture

    a. myVoice (speak up program)

    Most of the IC’s recommendations have already been implemented through improvements to documentation, agreement of roles and responsibilities and the completion of already in progress actions, including training programs and updates to procedure standards and manuals. Rio Tinto expects to have completed its remediation activities by half-year 2026.  

    The IC did not make any findings or observations relating to the Company’s annual report or 20-F filings and no restatements or changes have been made as a result of this review.

Related downloads

Risk Management Policy
PDF
268 KB
Risk Management Standard
PDF
257 KB

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