Deloitte Releases Updated Audit Committee Guide

In response to new pressures on audit committees, Deloitte updated and modernized its “Audit Committee Guide” to provide the latest resources and insights on how audit committee members can perform their duties more effectively. The guide highlights the latest resources concerning committee requirements, oversight responsibilities, and strategies for operating successfully. The guide touches on the following issues more specifically:

• Oversight responsibilities of financial reporting, risk, internal auditors, independent auditors, and ethics and compliance;
• Committee composition with respect to independence and financial literacy requirements;
• Audit committee charters during a period of shifting responsibilities; and,
• Committee evaluations and self-assessments.

Furthermore, the guide poses questions for audit committee members to consider as they work through problems encountered in committee meetings. As a note, “the guide is focused on requirements for US public companies, much of the content can be leveraged by those serving on nonpublic company audit committees” as well as investment company audit committees.