Audit Committee Self-Evaluation Process and Format (and for Boards and Other Committees)

I have pasted below the introduction from my paper Audit Committee Self-Evaluation Process and Format (and for Boards and Other Committees)(please excuse the formatting which changed slightly during the copy and paste), and below this paragraph I have provided a link to a pdf of the entire paper. This is an important topic for boards, audit committees, and other committees – please do tell other people about this blog post and the paper, and feel free to print and use the paper and provide it to other people. I hope that you find this useful. You will also find a lot of additional audit committee, board, governance committee and related materials on prior posts to this blog.

Here is the link to the pdf: Audit Committee Self-Evaluation 03192020

Best to you, Dave Tate, Esq.

AUDIT COMMITTEE SELF-EVALUATION PROCESS AND FORMAT

(AND FOR BOARDS AND OTHER COMMITTEES)

DAVID W. TATE

Attorney at Law

Inactive Certified Public Accountant (California)

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Self-evaluation is an important board and committee activity, and can be very helpful if done properly.

A. Introduction and Overview

The following discussion specifically covers audit committee self-evaluations and provides processes that you can use – this discussion can also be used for board and other committee self-evaluations and processes, such as for governance and risk committees. As noted elsewhere in these materials, although many board and audit committee functions, responsibilities and tasks are specified by statute, regulation, rule or pronouncement, board and audit committee member standards of care remain significantly dependent on due diligence and prudent judgment.

Boards, audit committees and other committees of various entities are required by law, regulation or rule to conduct annual committee self-evaluations; however, it is worthwhile for boards, audit committees and other committees of all public and private companies and nonprofit entities to conduct self-evaluations. Board committee jobs are challenging, ongoing, and technical in nature, and require the members to significantly interact with many people in different capacities within and outside of the entity. It only makes sense that boards and committees should at least once each year take time to step back and review, evaluate and make improvements to their manners of operation, and also consider helpful actions that can be taken by other people with whom the board, audit committee, or other committee interacts. Self-evaluation will be worthwhile even if it results in improving only one area of operation.

Board and committee responsibilities originate from several different sources at least including (1) activities and responsibilities that boards or committees voluntarily undertake or that are delegated to them; (2) the business judgment rule; (3) the specific laws, regulations and rules that are applicable to the entity’s directors and committee members; (4) the wording of the board and committee charters, if there are charters; (5) shareholder and stakeholder expectations, and (6) for audit committees, accounting and auditing pronouncements relating to the outside auditor’s activities.

Prudent board and committee processes and diligence are also important to reduce member and entity liability and reputation risk. An increasing number of cases hold that board and audit committee members can be liable for failure to exercise sufficient diligence, failure to spot and respond to red flags, and failure to take action. Active board, committee and corporate diligence tend to demonstrate prudent business judgment and negate allegations of recklessness, improper intent, intentional wrongdoing, or “scienter” such as in the context of securities litigation, thus reducing the risk of securities liability and damages. In the context of audit committee activities, potential entity, board, and audit committee member liability typically arises in the context of alleged improper accounting practices, written and oral public misrepresentations (such as with respect to financial matters), and improper employment practices.

Although not required, there can be advantages to having a facilitator conduct an interactive interview approach to the self-evaluation process, but without performance grading or rating: it can be difficult to construct a questionnaire with standardized questions that would be similarly understood by each of the participants in the self-evaluation process; different people use different rating scales; different people express responses in different manners; and certain important issues will change from year to year. A facilitated approach may encourage better discussion and comment, compilation, continuity, explanation, and follow-up. Contact me if you are interested in committee self-evaluation assistance at a reasonable fixed fee.

Issues and topic areas to consider during the self-evaluation process will naturally vary from entity to entity, and from board, audit committee or other committee to board, audit committee or other committee. Thus, to stimulate discussion, below for both boards and audit committees I have provided lists of potential broad issues or topic areas to consider for discussion and evaluation, including both successes and possible improvements; and I have also outlined processes to assist your board and audit committee self-evaluation processes.

B. Audit Committee Self-Evaluation

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