Redefining Perceived Boundaries: Insights into the Audit Committee's Evolving Responsibilities

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Cunningham, Lauren M.; Stein, Sarah E.; Walker, Kimberly; Wolfe, Karneisha
• 署名单位: University of Tennessee System; University of Tennessee Knoxville; Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University; University of Illinois System; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• 刊物名称: ACCOUNTING REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0001-4826
• DOI: 10.2308/TAR-2023-0474
• 发表日期: 2025
• 页码: 193-219
• 关键词: CORPORATE GOVERNANCE; firm performance; work; expertise; DIRECTORS; BOARD; membership; QUALITY; fit

摘要

Oversight responsibilities for many audit committees (ACs) are evolving to include some of the hottest topics in the boardroom: enterprise risk management, cybersecurity, and environmental, social, and governance reporting. However, certain ACs avoid overseeing these evolving areas, creating significant variation across boards in the assignment of responsibilities. In this study, we seek to understand how ACs respond when environmental changes create new evolving risks that may extend the boundary of their traditional domain. To do so, we interview a diverse set of 29 AC members from U.S. publicly traded companies. We analyze our data through the theoretical lens of collaborative boundary work to identify how ACs respond by extending, blurring, or maintaining their perceived oversight boundaries, the related implications of these decisions, and their key tactics employed to manage AC workload. Our findings should be of interest to boards, investors, and regulators tasked with monitoring AC effectiveness.