Insights in a time of crisis: the 2008 audit committee survey
The role of any audit committee, no matter the industry, has always been to help ensure the quality and integrity of a company’s audit and related accounting and reporting practices. Today, however, bank audit committees face even more challenges. As might be expected, a heightened focus on liquidity and credit risk has been added to the already high focus on regulatory, legal, compliance and other risks. In our 2008 audit committee survey, more than half of respondents indicated they expect this trend to continue in the next year.
What does this mean? The banking industry, which historically has been more regulated than other industries, will have more trials to bear in order to effectively manage risk. This not only puts strain on the current audit committee and board activities and processes, it could heighten the role that bank committees now play in maintaining the financial health of an organization.
Here are some snapshots of our 2008 survey:
For bank audit committees, stringent committee member requirements and heightened scrutiny from various stakeholders add an additional layer of complexity and challenge. This additional layer is compounded by the current state of the global financial markets and a multitude of accounting, economic and market risks — all of which bank committees and boards must grapple. In our survey alone, 68 percent of respondents indicated that in the last 12 months, they had to address more than 15 different types of accounting, economic and market risks.
Download the survey: Get the highlights of our 2008 audit committee survey, Insights in a time of crisis.
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