Audit Committee - Survey Results

Survey Results

Various consulting and public accounting firms perform research on audit committees, to provide benchmarking data. Some results are identified below:

• 54% of committee members surveyed felt the audit committee was "very effective," while 38% indicated "somewhat effective."
• Risk management, internal control, and accounting estimates and judgments were the top priority areas for 2007.
• Most audit committees have 3-4 members and are usually chaired by persons with experience as a CFO, external auditor, or CEO.
• Audit committees meet 6-10 times per year, either face-to-face or via teleconference, with the former lasting from 1–4 hours and the latter 1–2 hours.
• Audit committee members devoted 50–150 hours to their responsibilities each year.
• The percentage of audit committees with oversight responsibility for: IT compliance (66%), business continuity (50%), and information security(45%).
• 41% were "very satisfied" with the internal audit function, while 52% were "somewhat satisfied."
• Two-thirds felt the Chief Internal Audit position was for a professional internal auditor, rather than as a "stepping stone" to other roles.
• 93% indicated the audit committee was "somewhat" or "much more" effective since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was implemented in 2002.
• 58% of committee members were "somewhat satisfied" that they understood management's processes to identify and assess significant business risks.
• Only 17% of audit committees had primary responsibility for oversight of non-financial risk; the full board had this responsibility in 56% of companies.

In a 2011 study, the Council of Europe concluded that: “The Benchmarking results from a sample of 15 international organisations in Europe show that 11 have an audit committee (of which the name may vary from Audit Committee, Advisory Committee on Audits, Audit Advisory Board, Audit Progress Committee, Finance and Audit Committee, Independent Advisory Oversight Committee, Independent Audit Advisory Committee of Experts) and in seven, the Audit committee plays a role in the selection of the External Auditor".

A 2009 study on 23 international organisations showed that 10 had an Audit Committee and 3 considered having one in future, with 8 reporting to the Governing Body level and 2 reporting to DG/Executive Director level. The sizes of all Audit Committees were between 3 and 9 members, with 5 committees having a mix of external expert members and internal members.