Audit Committee Essentials - Hardcover

Verschoor, Curtis C.

9780471699590: Audit Committee Essentials

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471699594 ISBN 13: 9780471699590

Publisher: Wiley, 2008

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Praise for Audit Committee Essentials

"Audit Committee Essentials is an excellent and comprehensive resource, documented with key references and illustrated with real-life company examples for all types of commercial and nonprofit enterprises. Dr. Verschoor brings into focus the intertwined impact of risk management, internal controls, and ethics on oversight responsibilities for both the audit committee and the entire board of directors. From my personal perspective as an audit committee member and as a director of both profit and nonprofit entities, this book should be required reading for corporate management, boards of directors, and their committees."
--George K. Gill, Chairman and CEO of PetAg, Inc.; Director and member of the Investment and Audit Committees of the United Methodist Foundation of Northern Illinois

"Maintaining the highest ethical standards is critical to the success of not-for-profits in today's world. Dr. Verschoor's book provides a practical, highly prescriptive approach to ensuring that governance processes meet the highest expectations of managers, employees, volunteers, contributors, and other stakeholders. I am very impressed with the readability of the book. It definitely raises one's awareness of the need for a thought-out plan that ensures strong financial and ethical credibility."
--John S. Maxson, President and CEO Greater North Michigan Avenue Association, Chicago, Illinois

A concise and readable account of the audit committee's roles and responsibilities

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act has changed the way all corporations now operate, regardless of size. In Audit Committee Essentials, goverance expert Curtis Verschoor explains with great detail and razor-sharp precision why internal control is so critical, emphasizing financial literacy, a requirement under Sarbanes-Oxley, as well as oversight of the financial reporting process and related controls, ethics and the internal and independent audits.

Written for seasoned professionals as well as newly assigned board members, Audit Committee Essentials is a vital tool in order to stay abreast of the rapidly changing governance requirements and responsibilities of audit committees.

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From the Inside Flap:

Audit Committee Essentials

In response to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, increased oversight burdens have been placed on boards of directors. Even the boards or trustees of many privately held and not-for-profit corporations have adopted a number of these practices as a measure of best corporate practice. The need has never been greater for audit committees to assume primary responsibility for some of the most important duties of the boards of directors and to report regularly to the full board. Providing indispensable and authoritative guidance, Audit Committee Essentials covers the roles and responsibilities of the audit committee and explains why risk management and internal control are so critical and how the audit committee can work to make them even more effective.

Avoiding complex jargon and legalese, this concise yet comprehensive volume emphasizes the oversight of the financial reporting process and related controls as well as the oversight of ethics and the independent and internal audits. Here, board members, audit committee members, and managers will find sound information about legally mandated matters affecting audit committees, as well as best practices advanced by thought leaders in the field of governance, with a focus on the requirements and responsibilities within the U.S.

Ideal for both profit and not-for-profit corporations, Audit Committee Essentials explains the essentials of the current status of audit committee formation requirements, operating guidelines, and specific respons-ibilities, including:

The historical development of audit committees, from their earliest origins in the 1940s to the present
Pertinent information from such highly respected legal sources as the Model Business Corporation Act, the Principles of Corporate Governance, and the 2007 edition of the Corporate Director's Guidebook
The personal characteristics of an effective board and audit committee member
The specific duties of audit committees that are prescribed by law, regulation, or rule
An overview of the audit committee duties that have emerged as best practices by means of reviews and analyses of corporate governance leaders and subject matter experts
Legally required characteristics audit committees and their members should possess
The critical importance to strong corporate governance of an ethical culture

Brimming with decision tables, checklists, and other valuable practice aids, Audit Committee Essentials provides a comprehen-sive overview of audit committee essentials in a concise and readable format.

About the Author:

Curtis C. Verschoor, CPA, author of eleven accounting books on audit committees and auditing, is the Chairman and CEO of C.C. Verschoor and Associates, Inc. He is an audit committee chair, researcher, consultant, and expert witness on assignments concerning corporate governance, corporate audit management, business, and professional ethics. He is a research professor of accounting at DePaul University and has been a CFO and a controller at several large corporations, including Baxter and Colgate-Palmolive. He has also published numerous journal articles on these subjects.

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