Audit committees increase focus on enterprise risk, ESG

Corporate boards and their audit committees have cybersecurity, enterprise risk management and ESG disclosure and reporting as their top three priorities in the next 12 months, according to a Deloitte report.

The report, "Audit Committee Practices Report: Priorities and Committee Composition," is based on a survey of 164 audit committee members at mostly large-cap US public companies.

Deloitte's Center for Board Effectiveness and the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ) aims to track shifting priorities and best practices of audit committees, which increasingly are tasked with more tasks.

Financial services firms have been using process mining and automation as a core part of risk management. In addition, Celonis and ServiceNow have teamed up to launch Connected Integrated Risk Management (IRM), the first in a portfolio of connected solutions. Many companies, including manufacturer Saint-Gobain, have leveraged process mining to save time.

Audit committees are also focused on risks that revolve around inflation, supply chain and carbon emissions targets, according to Deloitte's report. Here's a look at the top priorities.

As noted in Deloitte's report, auditors are facing an "increasingly complex risk landscape" and will have to continually adapt to identify new threats and hone processes.

Also see:

• Webinar: Protiviti: Using the Power of Process Mining to Deliver Next-Generation Internal Audit

• Celonis Academy: Process Mining for Audit Professionals

Larry Dignan

Editor in Chief (former)

Larry Dignan is the former Editor in Chief of Celonis Media. Before joining Celonis, he was Editor in Chief of ZDNet and has covered the technology industry and transformation trends for more than two decades, publishing articles in WallStreetWeek.com, Inter@ctive Week, The New York Times, and Financial Planning magazine.