Mid-year update: What audit committees should be watching for

Learn how companies and their audit committees are anticipating and responding to external forces reshaping board agendas at mid-year 2026.     

Join the EY Center for Board Matters on Thursday, 25 June 2026, at 3:00 p.m. (ET) for our next, Better Questions for Boards webcast, which will focus on timely insights and questions for audit committees and boards to consider as they engage with management.

As the second quarter closes, audit committees and management face policy shifts, ongoing geopolitical volatility and pressure to reassess priorities and oversight focus. This webcast will address evolving audit committee priorities and topics such as:

• Top geostrategic developments: Learn how shifting geopolitical and geostrategic developments are shaping the operating environment, how companies are responding to continued uncertainty, and effective practices for overseeing geopolitical risks, including risk scenario planning, third-party exposure, and other key considerations.
• Mid-year global macroeconomic outlook: Find out what to expect at a global macroeconomic level, including interest rate expectations, labor market dynamics, and evolving trade and tariff policies. Hear what these variables could mean for businesses broadly and what audit committees and boards may want to monitor.
• SEC mid-year update: Get up to date on current and emerging financial reporting and regulatory developments, including SEC and PCAOB matters and other important reminders and considerations for audit committees heading into the second half of the year.

This 60-minute, CPE-eligible webcast will be co-moderated by Patrick Niemann, Partner, Ernst & Young LLP, and Jennifer Lee, Managing Director, Ernst & Young LLP. Panelists will include:

• Lauren Alexander, Partner, National Professional Practice, Ernst & Young LLP
• Karen Dynan, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics
• Courtney Rickert McCaffrey, EY Global Geostrategic Business Group Insights Leader
• Quentin Roach, SVP and Chief Procurement Officer, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. and Board director, US Foods