Directors Quarterly: January 2024

The start of a new year is an important opportunity for boards to take a step back and reassess their agendas to help ensure that they are appropriately focused on the most critical issues for the company. Given the increasing breadth and complexity of issues that directors must oversee and the volatility and uncertainty of the business and risk environment, is the board—through its committee structure and allocation of oversight responsibilities—spending time on the right topics and in the most effective way? Leaving room on the agenda to consider future scenarios and address the unexpected (in addition to the must-dos) will be essential.

As directors fine-tune their board and committee agendas for 2024, our annual On the agenda messages highlight the mission-critical issues that should be considered in boardroom discussions throughout the year.. In this edition of Directors Quarterly, read excerpts from our board and audit committee On the agenda publications.

This quarter, check out our financial reporting and auditing update for top takeaways from the AICPA & CIMA Conference on Current SEC and PCAOB Developments, questions to ask about ESG reporting obligations, and the impact of Pillar Two tax rules.

In this edition, we also share an interview with SEC Chief Accountant Paul Munter, including his views on audit committee expectations, oversight of risk management and the control environment, and audit committee and audit firm independence. Finally, we offer key areas of focus for boards as they oversee management’s efforts to maintain effective third-party risk management programs amid the rapidly changing risk, regulatory, and compliance landscape.