Disclosure committees ... necessary evil or saving grace?

• Position: CHAPTER NEWS/EVENTS - Conference news

The interaction between audit and disclosure committees can be challenging for many organizations looking to define each committee's roles and responsibilities clearly and effectively.

During a CFRI session featuring audit committee chairs and members, panelists offered their views about how to best establish and maintain this important relationship, and whether they viewed their role as providing oversight or direct engagement with their disclosure committee counterparts

Panelists emphasized the important oversight and control role the disclosure committees serve. They were in agreement that even though audit committee members should not be on the actual disclosure committee--as this is a management function--they should have oversight to understand the rigor of the disclosure committee's process, the key issues it deliberated, and to probe all "close calls."

Unlocking Potential of the Disclosure Committee

The same conclusion was also reached in a new report issued in a joint study by FERF and EY titled Unlocking the Potential of Disclosure Committees, Leading Practices and Trends.

This report provides insights into the relationship between audit committee and disclosure committee from the perspective of numerous stakeholders including finance executives, as well as audit committee members and external counsel.

In the report, an audit committee member shared her view...