(10)Adequate internal organisation of statutory auditors and audit firms should help to prevent any threats to their independence. Thus, owners or shareholders of an audit firm, as well as those managing it, should not intervene in the carrying-out of a statutory audit in any way which jeopardises the independence and objectivity of the statutory auditor who carries out the statutory audit on behalf of the audit firm. Additionally, statutory auditors and audit firms should establish appropriate internal policies and procedures in relation to employees and other persons involved in the statutory audit activity within their organisations, in order to ensure compliance with their statutory obligations. Those policies and procedures should in particular seek to prevent and address any threats to independence and should ensure the quality, integrity and thoroughness of the statutory audit. Those policies and procedures should be proportionate, in view of the scale and complexity of the business of the statutory auditor or the audit firm.