Insights into the Evolving Responsibilities of the Audit Committee

Posted: 28 Nov 2022

See all articles by Lauren M. Cunningham

Lauren M. Cunningham

University of Tennessee - Haslam College of Business

Sarah E. Stein

Virginia Tech

Kimberly Walker

Virginia Tech; affiliation not provided to SSRN

Karneisha Wolfe

Virginia Tech

Date Written: October 17, 2022

Abstract

Audit committees (AC) play an important role in overseeing financial reporting systems and boosting investor confidence, with attention on effective AC practices dating back to the 1940s. However, nearly 20 years after SOX, the role of the AC has changed significantly, with many ACs now overseeing a variety of non-traditional risks and balancing an ever-increasing workload. In this study, we seek to understand these shifting expectations in the scope of AC oversight and how ACs manage these evolving responsibilities. We conduct semi-structured interviews with 30 AC members serving U.S. publicly traded companies to address our research question. Following positivist field study methods, we use our theoretical lens to help us understand and interpret our interview data. Our findings should be of interest to academics who study the function and role of audit committees as well as stakeholders and regulators of companies who rely on audit committees for oversight of key risks.

Keywords: audit committee, managing evolving responsibilities

JEL Classification: G34, M14, M41, M42

Suggested Citation

Cunningham, Lauren M. and Stein, Sarah E. and Walker, Kimberly and Wolfe, Karneisha, Insights into the Evolving Responsibilities of the Audit Committee (October 17, 2022). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4249507

Lauren M. Cunningham (Contact Author)

University of Tennessee - Haslam College of Business ( email )

Accounting and Information Management
603 Stokely Management Center
Knoxville, TN 37996
United States

Sarah E. Stein

Virginia Tech ( email )

250 Drillfield Drive
Blacksburg, VA 24061
United States

Kimberly Walker

Virginia Tech ( email )

250 Drillfield Drive
Blacksburg, VA 24061
United States

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Karneisha Wolfe

Virginia Tech ( email )

United States

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