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International Corporate Governance : Canada Summary of Canadian and US Regulatory Initiatives In parallel to the U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the Canadian standard setters, including the TSX, the Ontario Securities Commission and the other members of the Canadian Securities Administrators, and the CICA, have been in the process of developing a new regulatory framework for accounting, financial reporting and corporate governance in Canada. KPMG has published a summary of the regulatory initiatives underway in Canada, including the Canadian Public Accountability Board, the Auditing Standards Oversight Council, the CICA's proposed independence standards, and various securities reform initiatives. The summary compares the Canadian initiatives to those appearing in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and related SEC regulations in the US.
KPMG's Audit Committee UPDATE - Fall 2002 The Fall 2002 issue of KPMG's Audit Committee UPDATE focuses on reforms that represent the most significant changes the capital markets have seen since the 1930s -- changes that will have a significant impact on all of the participants in the financial reporting process. The publication highlights some of the most significant regulatory changes that have been either proposed or approved in both Canada and the United States. These new regulations will have a profound effect on the activities of audit committees, management and internal and external auditors.
KPMG's Audit Committee UPDATE - Spring 2002 KPMG's Audit Committee UPDATE is a Canadian publication intended to inform audit committees of recent events and matters of interest, and provides a summary of some of the key issues that audit committee members should consider when establishing their next meeting's agenda. Published semi-annually in the spring and fall, it examines issues of concern to audit committee members including audit committee process and policies, regulatory matters and current developments in accounting and auditing. The inaugural edition, Audit Committee UPDATE - Spring 2002, begins by exploring the influence of the current economic and business environment on audit committees and what changes to practices they may consider to better safeguard against potential exposures and to better understand and discharge their duties and responsibilities. This issue also summarizes developments in Canadian accounting and auditing standards, as well as broader changes occurring in the North American financial reporting and regulatory landscape. It also includes articles covering the recommendations of the Joint Committee on Corporate Governance pertaining to audit committees, and how Enterprise Risk Management, an emerging model for risk management, can assist audit committees in fulfilling their oversight responsibilities.
KPMG's Shaping the Canadian Audit Committee Agenda KPMG's Shaping the Canadian Audit Committee Agenda is designed to assist audit committees in examining what they are doing and how they are doing it, with a view to becoming more effective in discharging their responsibilities. In this publication, we share leading audit committee practices that can help audit committees identify and react to current and future economic events, as well as accounting and regulatory changes. Shaping the Canadian Audit Committee Agenda identifies and describes the fundamental building blocks of effective audit committees: an appropriate structure and foundation, reasonable and well-defined mandate and responsibilities, and an effective agenda. The publication’s appendices include an Audit Committee Toolkit, comprising an example Audit Committee Mandate, and Audit Committee Agendas. As a backdrop, Shaping the Canadian Audit Committee Agenda also summarizes the recently issued recommendations of the Joint Committee on Corporate Governance pertaining to audit committees -- recommendations that will likely continue the evolution of Canadian audit committees. As audit committees continually strive to improve their effectiveness, we believe they can benefit by comparing their own practices against those described in this publication.
The Joint Committee on Corporate Governance In November 2001, the Joint Committee on Corporate Governance (the "Joint Committee"), established by the CICA, TSE and Canadian Venture Exchange, issued its Final Report entitled Beyond Compliance: Building a Governance Culture. The Final Report is a follow-up to the 1994 Dey Committee Report and aims to make recommendations for changes that will ensure Canadian corporate governance is among the best in the world. In developing its final recommendations, the Joint Committee issued an Interim Report in March 2001 for public comment. At that time, we prepared the KPMG Analysis of the Interim Report of the Joint Committee on Corporate Governance which summarizes the key interim recommendations having the most impact on audit committee members and provided our comments and observations on the interim recommendations.
Both the Final Report and the Interim Report are also available on the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) website at http://www.cica.ca/ under the caption Risk Management and Corporate Governance on the CICA's homepage. For more information about the Joint Committee's Final Report, KPMG's Analysis of the Interim Report of the Joint Committee on Corporate Governance or ACI's initiatives in Canada please contact David J. Taylor at 416-777-8039 or e-mail at dtaylor@kpmg.ca. You may also contact ACI at 201-505-2112 or e-mail auditcommittee@kpmg.com CICA - Guidance For Audit Committees: Discussing Auditor Independence Matters With Your Auditor This book, published by the CICA, focuses on the communication between auditors and audit committee members regarding matters of auditor independence, including the responsibilities of audit committee members. This booklet also includes a series of questions which audit committee members may ask the auditor about independence and an example annual independence letter. A copy of this publication can be downloaded from the About ASB section of the Assurance Standards page of the CICA Web site located at www.cica.ca.
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