Board audit committee agendas continue to evolve as companies are faced with a rapidly-changing global business landscape, the proliferation of standards and regulations, increased stakeholder scrutiny, and a heightened enforcement environment. In this post, I summarize current issues of interest for audit committees.
The Audit Committee And Oversight
During her remarks at the Stanford Directors’ College in June 2014, SEC Chair Mary Jo White observed that “audit committees, in particular, have an extraordinarily important role in creating a culture of compliance through their oversight of financial reporting.” [1] Since then, various Commissioners of the SEC and its Staff have reinforced this message by reminding companies of the audit committee’s duties under federal securities laws to:
- oversee the quality and integrity of the company’s financial reporting process, including the company’s relationship with the outside auditor;
- oversee the company’s confidential and anonymous whistleblower complaint policies and procedures relating to accounting and auditing matters; and
- report annually to stockholders on the performance of these duties.
