Statutory backing

　　Audit committees may become more effective if their establishment by certain organisations is made compulsory. The recommendations of internal audit will also be reinforced by stricter accounting and auditing standards.

　　Improvement in operations

　　Changes that might improve the way audit committees operate include the following.

　　(1) Having clear terms of reference agreed by the board

　　(2) Establishment of an annual plan giving details of the areas on which the committee will focus

　　(3) Establishment of standards for the frequency of, and form of reporting to, the main board 

　　(4) Regular review of the effectiveness of the audit committee including whether its recent work has been correctly focused.

　　(b) Dealing with complaints

　　One aspect of control systems improvement will be dealing with complaints from customers. However the control systems cannot just concentrate on dealing with complaints as even resolved complaints may lead to regulatory action, and poor experiences may influence the subsequent purchasing decisions of customers.

　　Customer feedback

　　Controls must also be implemented to obtain customer feedback on an ongoing basis.