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The role of the audit committee in supporting the external auditor's independence and effectiveness

Published Article / This article discusses the developments and factors that impact on the external audit function, and analyses the role that an effectively functioning audit committee can play in supporting the external auditor's independence and effectiveness. This is done through a literature review of external audit and audit committee developments, and is supported by empirical evidence obtained from assessing the annual reports and from questionnaires sent to the audit committee chairs of the Top 40 listed companies in South Africa. The main findings of the study are that audit committees at the largest listed companies in South Africa are taking responsibility for overseeing the external audit function, but that the disclosure thereof in annual reports was found to be lacking. These findings are of significance as they provide support for the recommendations of King III (effective from 1 March 2010) that all companies should form audit committees and that external audit should be given oversight responsibilities in this regard.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:cut/oai:ir.cut.ac.za:11462/571
Date January 2010
CreatorsMarx, B., Lubbe, D.
ContributorsCentral University of Technology, Free State, Bloemfontein
PublisherJournal for New Generation Sciences, Vol 8, Issue 3: Central University of Technology, Free State, Bloemfontein
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
Languageen_US
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeArticle
Format15 095 806 bytes, 1 file, Application/PDF
RightsCentral University of Technology, Free State, Bloemfontein
RelationJournal for New Generation Sciences;Vol 8, Issue 3

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