Independence and Objectivity Retired Partners on Audit Committees
- Topics:
- Audits
- Source:
- The CPA Journal
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Overview: Corporate audit committees, their membership, and their responsibilities have received increased attention since the collapse of Enron. Of paramount importance in the composition of an audit committee of a public company is the assurance that its members are competent to provide adequate oversight of the audit function and are independent of the company and its auditor. Although retired audit firm partners possess many attributes that would make them excellent audit committee members, it may be extremely difficult for them to fulfill public expectations of independence and objectivity. Article focuces on explaining that retired audit firm partners represent an attractive pool of potential members for public company boards of directors and their audit committees, because of the stock exchanges’ new listing requirements, corporate boards are actively seeking retired partners as members. Before considering or making such appointments, however, the audit firm and the company must resolve a number of independence issues.
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Format: HTML | Date: Jan 2003 | Pages: 1
