D. to approve, prior to appointment, the engagement of the Fund’s independent auditor (the “Auditor”) and, in connection therewith, to oversee the compensation and review and evaluate the qualifications, independence and performance of the Auditor;
E. to act as a liaison between the Auditor and the full Board; and
F. to assist Board oversight of the Fund’s internal audit function (if any).
The Auditor for the Fund shall report directly to the Audit Committee.
III. Duties and Powers of the Audit Committee. To carry out its purposes, the Audit Committee shall have the following duties and powers:
A. to approve, prior to appointment, the engagement of the Auditor to annually audit and provide its opinion on the Fund’s financial statements, to recommend to those Board members who are not “interested persons” (as that term is defined in Section 2(a)(19) of the 1940 Act) of the Fund the selection, retention or termination of the Auditor and, in connection therewith, to review and evaluate matters potentially affecting the independence and capabilities of the Auditor. In evaluating the Auditor’s qualifications, performance and independence, the Audit Committee must, among other things, obtain and review a report by the Auditor, at least annually, describing the following items:
1. all relationships between the Auditor and the Fund, including each non-audit service provided to the Fund and the matters set forth in Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”) Rule 3526, Communication with Audit Committees Concerning Independence;
2. any material issues raised by the most recent internal quality control review, or peer review, of the audit firm, or by any inquiry or investigation by governmental or professional authorities, within the preceding five years, respecting one or more independent audits carried out by the firm, and any steps taken to deal with any such issues; and
3. the audit firm’s internal quality-control procedures.
B. to approve, prior to appointment, the engagement of the Auditor to provide other audit services to the Fund or to provide non-audit services to the Fund, it’s the Adviser or any entity controlling, controlled by, or under common control with the Adviser (“adviser affiliate”) that provides ongoing services to the Fund, if the engagement relates directly to the operations and financial reporting of the Fund;
C. to develop, to the extent deemed appropriate by the Audit Committee, policies and procedures for pre-approval of the engagement of the Auditor to provide any of the services described in 2 above;
D. to consider the controls applied by the Auditor and any measures taken by management in an effort to assure that all items requiring preapproval by the Audit Committee are identified and referred to the Committee in a timely fashion;
E. to consider whether the non-audit services provided by the Auditor to the Fund’s Adviser or any adviser affiliate that provides ongoing services to the Fund, which services were not preapproved by the Audit Committee, are compatible with maintaining the Auditor’s independence;
F. to review the arrangements for and scope of the annual audit and any special audits;
G. to review and approve the fees proposed to be charged to the Fund by the Auditor for each audit and non-audit service;
H. to consider information and comments from the Auditor with respect to the Fund’s accounting and financial reporting policies, procedures and internal control over financial reporting (including the Fund’s critical accounting policies and practices), to consider management’s responses to any such comments and, to the extent the Audit Committee deems necessary or appropriate, to promote improvements in the quality of the Fund’s accounting and financial reporting;
I. to consider information and comments from the Auditor with respect to, and meet with the auditor to discuss any matters of concern relating to, the Fund’s financial statements, including any adjustments to
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