Thought Leadership
- Tax
issues and the Audit Committee
In this article, we review the limitations of using the external
auditor for tax planning services and should the audit committee permit
tax shelters to be sold by non-audit partners of the external auditor.
- A
well-functioning Audit Committee is the key to achieving good governance
Based on the new rules and regulations on auditor independence
and board responsibilities, all audit committee have to update their
charter, composition and configuration to comply. We suggest that
a review, assessment and evaluation of the impact, principles, practices
and functions must be conducted, before the new regime goes into effect.
At the Audit Committee events in Copenhagen and London, participants
will receive three different tools to implement, adopt or update the
new requirements.
- Updating
the Auditor Independence and Audit Committee issues
After significant changes in 2002 post-Enron scandal, the rules
governing the external auditor and therefore the audit committee are
now fast evolving. The EU regulations that come into force in June
2016 aims to improve selection, competition, price and choice by changing
the external auditor. The professional services firms are heavily
investing in new intelligent technology and data analytics, to take
care of routine audit chores. The merry-go-round of audits substitutions
between the Big Four — PwC, Deloitte, EY and KPMG is rotating.
- Implications
of audit regulation and directive to restore integrity and trust between
companies, markets, and the audit committee
Audit committee members and external auditors, in particular, are
the most important gatekeepers to provide attention to financial reporting
and financial fraud processes. Each function has a responsibility
to foster high-quality, reliable financial reporting. Stakeholders
recognise that audit committee members and statutory auditors exercise
a significant amount of judgment on a day-to-day basis, and are not
in the business of second-guessing good faith judgments. The focus
of the seminar is to provide updated guidance on how audit committee
members can carry out their responsibilities, and how auditors can
comply with relevant auditing standards in their audit work, based
on the audit reform.
- Audit
Committee Network
Global companies are increasingly met by new regulations and mandates,
that continually challenge the corporate governance, risk management,
compliance and IT security (GRC) processes and therefore make greater
demands to the audit committee. The Copenhagen Compliance® UK Ltd.’s
UK Audit Committee Governance Network is a group of audit committee
chairs, members, and stakeholders who are committed to improving the
performance of audit committees and the board of directors by enhancing
trust in financial markets and all stakeholders.
- The
New Audit Committee Stewardship Framework (Part I of II)
When things go wrong in a company, it is often due to lack of adherence,
monitoring and independent assurance of right governance processes
in the organisation. One of the primary reasons when management, the
chairman or the audit committee member is forced to say; 'we were
not aware' is often due to the undermining of trust in the financial
accounts, culture and the GRC activities to obtain confidence in the
performance. Management tools like the 'whistle-blower' function,
'compliance' and 'tone-of-the-top' are valuable however in this article
we focus on the role and responsibility of the audit committee to
avoid a corporate failure.
- The
New Audit Committee Stewardship Framework (Part II of II)
The updated central role of the Audit Committee goes beyond enhancing
the audit quality and building confidence in the integrity of financial
disclosures. The new stewardship role of the audit committee will
be critical in creating the right environment for corporate performance
including the board's responsibility to create a platform of the business
culture of integrity, respect, accountability and transparency. Audit
committees must develop an audit strategy, to address significant
audit risks, appropriate independence and effectiveness of the external
auditor.
- How
to solve the new audit committee mandates and responsibilities
The audit committee is a cornerstone of the board of director's
duties. Its mandate now extends well beyond the oversight of financial
reporting and includes key areas that determine the organisation's
performance, risk management, compliance, accountability, the integrity
of quality data, cyber risk, and the effectiveness of internal control
over operations. The long list of oversight responsibilities gets
more complicated because the amount of time the audit committee members
can commit is often the same.
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