Post-SOX Audit Quality continues to improve, say audit committee members.

• Position: Accounting & auditing news

More than three-quarters of audit committee members who took part in a recent survey commissioned by the Center for Audit Quality (www.thecaq.org), an AICPA affiliate, rate overall audit quality "very good" or "excellent," and 82% say it has improved in recent years. The Internet survey of 253 audit committee members was conducted between Jan. 7 and Feb. 20 by The Glover Park Group.

The survey offers a look at the views of corporate board members who oversee the preparation and auditing of public company financial statements. The findings indicate that even in the face of market turbulence, audit committee members have high confidence in the quality of audited financial statements and consider the Sarbanes-Oxley Act a positive influence.

About 53% of the audit committee members agreed that overall audit quality is "very good," while 25% described it as "excellent." About 87% said the risk of inaccuracies in financial statements due to fraud is "not very high," and 60% agreed the risk declined after the passage of SOX. Audit committee members...