Audit committee members feel they are more exposed to litigation and financial prosecution than any other members of the board, according to research published today by KPMG’s Audit Committee Institute.
Lord Wakham, the former Enron audit committee member, wouldn't argue with that. He is waiting nervously to hear what – if any – action he faces as a result of the SEC investigation into other board members of the disgraced energy giant. And then there is the not-so-small matter of the Joint Disciplinary Scheme's inquiry which could see the ICAEW member disciplined on this side of the Atlantic.

All this talk of audit committees made for an interesting Insider Business Club webcast last week. We have had Tim Copnell, the KPMG man who conducted today's research, on in the past but last week's audit discussion saw Jonathan Hayward, chief executive of consultancy Independent Audit, talk about how the relationship between auditors and audit committees has changed.
'What I am picking up from mainly the larger companies that I talk to, is that there is an increased strain on the relationship with auditors,' he said. 'Not so much with the audit committees, because on the whole auditors have been pretty good at looking after the audit committees. But finance directors who have been very much at the sharp end have seen their fees go up and quality of service go down. And there is a degree of frustration building on their part.'

There will be more on this in this week's Accountancy Age. But I'd love to hear from auditors and FDs alike whether that is a picture that they recognise.