Governance, Ethics & Risk
Audit committee
A committee of the board of directors responsible for overseeing financial reporting, external and internal audit, internal controls and — increasingly — sustainability-related disclosure and risk.
Expert review openNo editor-accepted expert review yetDefinition
A committee established by and from the board of directors to oversee the entity's accounting and financial reporting processes and the audits of its financial statements; where no such committee exists, the full board performs the role. Listed-company rules typically require independent members and at least one financial expert.
References
Formal definition; oversight of accounting, financial reporting and audits; full-board fallback.
Oversight remit — financial reporting, risk, ethics and compliance, internal audit; evolving role including AI and ESG risk oversight.
Overview
What it means
The modern audit committee's remit, strengthened after early-2000s corporate scandals, covers appointment and oversight of independent auditors, review of financial statements and disclosures, oversight of internal control over financial reporting, whistleblower procedures and enterprise risk.
Its scope is expanding to sustainability: ESG risk oversight, assurance of sustainability reporting and connectivity between sustainability and financial disclosures increasingly sit with the committee.
How it is used
Companies formalise the committee's duties in a charter; regulators and exchanges set composition and independence requirements. In sustainability governance, boards assign oversight of climate risk, sustainability assurance and non-financial reporting either to the audit committee or a dedicated sustainability committee.
Why it matters
Credible sustainability disclosure needs the same governance discipline as financial reporting. Where audit committees extend their controls mindset to sustainability data, greenwashing risk falls; where they don't, sustainability claims lack institutional checking.
Review
Public comments appear only after editor acceptance. Draft comments stay in the review queue.
Reviewers choose the definition or an overview paragraph, leave a comment or replacement, and attach evidence or a source link.
Editors compare reviewer cards side by side. AI may help find agreement, conflicts, unsupported claims and possible source issues.
Only an editor-accepted synthesis changes the public page. Reviewer identities are shown only with consent and verification.
Submitted reviews stay private until accepted.
Loading verified endorsements… Endorsements are not votes and never determine publication.
Endorse this definition
Endorse the exact version shown here. This is not a vote, and publication remains an editorial decision.
Review board
Comment on a specific line. Each reviewer stays separate until an editor accepts a merged draft.
Each person comments on the definition or overview in their own draft card, with role, evidence and suggested wording kept together.
AI can compare comments against the current text, flag conflicting claims, surface missing evidence and identify where reviewers agree.
An editor merges compatible suggestions into a draft change, checks sources, records disagreements and decides what can be published.