Preparing Audit Committee for Challenges; CAQ Updates External Auditor Assessments Tool

A recent governance blog post highlights the importance of the audit committee’s oversight role, particularly in the last year. Governance experts from Deloitte acknowledged that as companies shifted to the virtual environment “boards and audit committees had to find new ways to engage with management and their auditors in order to effectively execute their oversight responsibilities.” They posed several considerations for audit committees to determine how well-positioned they are to deal with current and future challenges, including:

• Does the audit committee’s meeting frequency, structure, and format provide adequate time and flexibility for the committee to carry out its responsibilities, particularly in the mostly virtual world we are operating in today?
• Does the audit committee receive appropriate information from management, its internal and external auditors, and outside parties to be adequately informed for discussions?
• Are audit committee agendas structured to focus on key risks and priorities while allowing flexibility to address emerging risks and issues?
  

Meanwhile, The Center for Audit Quality has refreshed its tool to help audit committees evaluate external auditors in fulfilling the audit committee’s duty to make an informed recommendation to the board whether to retain the external auditor.