Prioritizing a heavy audit committee agenda is never easy, and 2016 will be particularly challenging given the level of global volatility and uncertainty—e.g., commodity prices, interest rates, currency fluctuations, emerging market growth, geopolitical risks—as well as a technology advances disrupting established industries and business models.

Drawing on insights from our latest survey work and interactions with audit committees and business leaders over the past 12 months, we’ve highlighted six things that audit committees should keep in mind as they consider and carry out their 2016 agendas:

• Maintain (or regain) control of the committee’s agenda.
• Quality financial reporting starts with the CFO and finance organization; maintaining a sharp focus on leadership, succession planning, and bench strength is critical.
• Monitor fair value estimates, impairments, and judgments of key assumptions underlying other critical accounting estimates.
• Assess the company’s readiness for the FASB’s new revenue recognition standard and for new country-by-country tax reporting.
• Reinforce audit quality and set clear expectations for the external auditor.
• Consider how the company’s disclosures can better tell the company’s story—and the audit committee’s.

Also see On the 2016 Board Agenda for a wider discussion of upcoming governance matters. 

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