Key issues in Dodd-Frank Act for public company audit committees.

The recently enacted Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act addresses four major issues: transparency, risk management, accountability and structural oversight; and will create new regulators, bring new firms and markets under regulatory oversight, and provide new rulemaking and enforcement powers to regulators. Although central elements of the Act focus on regulating the financial services sector, it also includes provisions affecting every public company, including enhanced SEC enforcement authority and additional corporate governance requirements.

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Grant Thornton's...