Audit Committees in Corporate Annual Reports‪.‬

Events during 2001 and 2002, such as the bankruptcies of WorldCom and Enron and the criminal conviction of one of the "big five" accounting firms, Arthur Andersen, have exposed severe problems with the financial accounting and reporting system in the United States. The goal of high quality financial accounting and reporting requires that each of the major participants fulfill their responsibilities. For publicly traded corporations, these participants normally include the board of directors, the audit committee of the board, senior management, the internal auditor, and the outside independent auditor. The corporate audit committee is in a position to oversee the activities of management, the internal auditor, and the outside independent auditor. A properly functioning corporate audit committee is an essential component in the financial accounting and reporting system. The purpose of this article is to examine the development of audit committees including their composition, duties, and reporting requirements. This article will also disclose the status of reporting by audit committees that is currently occurring in the annual financial reports and proxy statements of the companies in the Standard and Poor's 100 Index. DEVELOPMENT OF AUDIT COMMITTEES