Audit committees rigorous
Report by the KPMG-sponsored Audit Committee Institute finds audit committee members feeling confident about current regulations
Audit committee members are increasingly confident that current regulations
are rigorous enough to prevent a repeat of the corporate scandals of recent
years, a report by the KPMG-sponsored Audit Committee Institute has found.
The ACI surveyed audit committee members from some of the UK’s leading
corporates, and found that almost two-thirds of the respondents believed
Enron-style collapses could have been avoided under today’s regulations for
audit committees.
‘It is encouraging that the majority of audit committee members are confident
that today’s standards and safeguards are higher than those of the pre-Enron
era,’ said ACI director Timothy Copnell.
The report did raise concerns that audit committee members did not have
enough time to dedicate to their tasks. ‘It is in everybody’s interests for them
to devote as much time as possible to active rather than passive engagement,’
said Copnell.