Board Governance Forum 2019

As companies and their boards grapple with a fast-changing world — globally connected, data-driven, and often opaque — audit committees continue to play a pivotal role in assessing risk management processes and internal controls. Is the tone at the top clear? Does leadership walk the talk? What is the mood in the middle and the buzz at the bottom? Does the company’s culture make it safe for employees to do the right thing?

Not surprisingly, our survey of more than 1,300 audit committee members, including more than 20 audit committee members from Indonesia, finds many audit committees still shouldering heavy risk agendas — financial risk, legal/regulatory compliance, cybersecurity, information technology and third-party risks. Does the audit committee have the time and expertise to oversee these major risks?

Audit committee members continue to tell us that a deeper understanding of the business and its risks and more “whitespace time” for open dialogue would most improve committees’ effectiveness. Clearly, that puts a premium on effective agenda management.

KPMG Indonesia successfully held a roundtable on Monday, 11 November 2019 at Ayana Midplaza Hotel. This roundtable was attended by an exclusive group of 60 audit committee members, independent commissioners, internal auditors and regulators. During the session, we shared insights from the results of the KPMG Global Audit Committee Pulse Survey, identifying key challenges faced by audit committees globally and in Indonesia, as well as their priorities. KPMG Indonesia’s partner in charge for Audit and Assurance Services also shared about maintaining audit quality and auditor independence, which was the top concern of half of Indonesian audit committee members according to the survey, and launched our first KPMG Indonesia Transparency Report. Our cyber security team shared about organizational awareness and culture in managing cyber risk, which was the top priority of half of global audit committee members in the survey.