Audit committees as new bodies ensuring reliability of financial statements and internal control systems in entities of public interest

The role and rules of the functioning of audit committees in entities are among the most topical issues in corporate governance discussed across the world recent years. The audit committee (usually affiliated to a board of directors or a supervisory board), having distinct responsibility and authority, focuses on the quality of an enterprise’s financial reporting and system of internal control, information dissemination and procedures, and independence and objectivity of the internal auditors and external auditors. Effective and efficient work of audit committees is perceived as a chance to increase the supervision quality in entities of public interest. The audit commit-tee is an important corporate governance tool, which is required by law under many regimes. The paper also attempts to assess the new regulations and new organiza-tional solutions applicable to public interest entities.