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The Brazilian Audit Committee

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An Introduction to the Audit Committee
An audit committee is a subcommittee of the board of directors that oversees the financial reporting process of a company including its audit procedures. In general, the audit committee’s responsibilities are to monitor the financial reporting process, oversee the internal control systems and to oversee the internal audit and independent public accounting function (Doupnik & Perera, 2012). Another requirement for publicly traded companies in the United States is that the committee must be made up of independent directors, meaning that no committee member can work for the company, with one committee member being a financial expert in accounting and auditing.
A History of the Audit Committee in …show more content…

Brazilian investments in roads, rails, airports and power plants will help in modernizing Brazil while giving the economy boost and enticing more business and capital to the country.
The BM&F Bovespa
Brazil’s main stock exchange is the BM&F Bovespa. It is located in Sao Paulo and was founded on August 23, 1890. The mission of the BM&F Bovespa is stated as follows: “Public confidence in the soundness of the capital markets and in the professional who work in those markets is an essential component for continued vitality and growth.” (BM&F Bovespa, 2014) In the year 2000, in order to further this mission BM&F Bovespa created stock listing levels with increasingly strict corporate governance and disclosure requirements. The listing levels are as follows: regular Bovespa, Level 1, Level 2 and Nova Mercado.
The Brazilian Audit Committee
Brazilian law requires public companies to have a board of directors, with at least three members. Firms that list on regular Bovespa, Level 2 or Novo Mercado must have at least 5 member boards. Brazil has no legal requirements for board independence, but only one-third of board members may be company officers. Traditionally in Brazil though, there has been either no or few independent directors that make up a company’s board. Brazilian law also gives minority shareholders the legal right to elect one representative

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