As the role of audit committees has increased in recent years, so has the value that accounting officers and boards place on the assurance provided by the audit committee on risk, control and governance. An effective audit committee with a robust challenge and scrutiny role is a key element in ensuring the highest standards of corporate governance in public bodies.
However, the level of training and support available to audit committees (beyond basic induction training) has not kept pace with these developments. CIPFA and KPMG have set up an Audit Committee Forum for chairs and members of audit committees of public bodies. The Forum will be a platform for members of audit committees, and those who service audit committees, to share good practice, learn about the latest audit issues and network with other like minded people.
Members of audit committees are busy people and events run under the auspices of the Forum will therefore be short, snappy, highly relevant and of a high quality. To make individual events as relevant as possible, they will be developed on a sectoral basis. In addition, there will be an annual conference that will address generic audit committee issues.
Autumn programme details will follow shortly.