Audit Committees: A Guide for Directors, Management, and Consultants (with CD-ROM)

(NOTE: A NEW FIFTH EDITION IS NOW AVAILABLE. PLEASE SEE ISBN 9780808091646) Audit Committees: A Guide for Directors, Management, and Consultants presents the history, responsibilities, and operation of audit committees. The Guide focuses primarily on publicly held companies, but also includes a short chapter on audit committees for not-for-profit and public sector entities. The Guide is written in a non-technical, active-voice, easy-to-read format. The book is useful for directors serving on audit committees, other members of the board of directors, CEOs, CFOs, legal in-house counsels, internal and external auditors, outside legal counsels, and other consultants to audit committees. It fills a "gap" in the existing literature in that it blends (1) observations based on real-world experiences from serving on audit committees, (2) expert knowledge of the standards of external and internal auditors, and (3) knowledge of the latest requirements from the New York Stock Exchange, National Association of Securities Dealers/Nasdaq, American Stock Exchange, and the SEC, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Audit Committees covers subjects rarely discussed, such as the process for terminating an external auditor. This Fourth Edition also features a free, companion CD-ROM containing workpapers, including checklists and document templates that can be put to immediate use.

Frank M. Burke, J.D., CPA, is a Managing General Partner of Burke, Mayborn Company, Ltd., a private investment firm. Mr. Burke serves, or has served, on 13 public company boards of directors and audit committees, chairing nine of those committees. He also serves, or has served, on numerous private company and not-for-profit boards. Prior to the creation of Burke, Mayborn Company in 1984, Mr. Burke was a partner in Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. (now KPMG) and served as Chairman-Energy Group for Peat Marwick International. He also served on the board of directors of Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. for six years. Over the past 30 years, Mr. Burke has written seven books and over 100 articles on various business, financial and tax subjects. Mr. Burke received his BBA and MBA from Texas Tech University and his J.D. from Southern Methodist University. Dan M. Guy, Ph.D., CPA, has a practice limited to litigation services and specializes in auditor malpractice and ethical issues. He frequently testifies about auditing and accounting matters when retained as an expert by both plaintiffs and defendants. He completed an 18-year career with the AICPA in January 1998, where he was Vice-President-Professional Standards and Services, having overall responsibility for, among other things, the Auditing Standards Board and international auditing matters. Mr. Guy is also the author of 11 books dealing with auditing issues. Prior to joining the AICPA in 1979, Dr. Guy was a professor of accounting at Texas Tech University and a visiting professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He was also in public accounting with Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. He received his Ph.D. at the University of Alabama. Contributing Author Kay W. Tatum, Ph.D., CPA is chair of the department of accounting at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL. Professor Tatum earned her Ph.D. in accounting at Texas Tech University. She is an active member of the AICPA and the American Accou