Three Questions Your Audit Committee Should Ask This Quarter

Audit committees get overloaded, reports arrive late, risks are buried in detail and meetings usually drift into compliance updates.
The committee’s real value is sharper. It’s built to protect the organization by asking the questions that prevent surprises.

Here are three questions that create discipline and clarity this quarter:

1) What could become a regulator or market question in the next 90 days

Do not ask, “Are we compliant.” Ask, “Where could we be challenged.”
Examples include disclosure gaps, related party activity, conflict management, and weak evidence trails.

What good looks like
A short list of top exposures, owners named, mitigations agreed and evidence available.

2) Do we have evidence, or only assurance

Many organizations have policies and statements. Regulators and stakeholders look for evidence, audit trails and decision records, including clear approvals and action tracking.

What good looks like
The committee can trace a key issue from policy to process to proof. In one sitting.

3) Are we seeing the right risks, at the right altitude

Committees often get buried in operational detail, or they stay too high level.
The right altitude links risk to decisions.

What good looks like
The committee sees the few risks that can move the organisation. It links each to decisions, controls, and accountability.

If your audit committee cannot answer these three questions quickly, it does not mean governance is weak. It means governance is not yet organised for clarity.