The ups and downs in the economy during the novel coronavirus pandemic are causing audit committees at public companies to focus on the disclosures in their financial statements and SEC filings about the current and potential impacts of COVID-19, according to a new report from KPMG.
The report, Challenges Presented by COVID-19, found that companies are reassessing, enhancing or establishing new internal controls due to pandemic-related disruptions to their business operations. Meanwhile internal auditors are adjusting their audit plans and activities.
Wayne Rushton served more than four decades at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, culminating in his role as senior deputy comptroller and chief national bank examiner. In that capacity, he chaired the agency's Committee on Bank Supervision and represented the OCC on the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council's Task Force on Supervision.
Earlier in his career, Wayne led the OCC's Multinational Banking Division and held several senior examination and supervisory positions. He gained extensive experience managing troubled institutions during the late 1980s and early 1990s, including service as the comptroller's deputy at the Resolution Trust Corporation and as director of the OCC's Special Resolutions Unit. He also completed a special assignment with the U.S. Department of Justice as a legislative fellow in the 97th Congress.
Following his government service, Wayne was a senior advisor at Promontory Financial Group, where he helped clients navigate complex regulatory examinations and enforcement issues and strengthen relationships with supervisory agencies.
Jimmy Nesbitt is a reporter at Employee Benefit News, where he covers the evolving landscape of workplace benefits, healthcare, retirement, financial wellness and related policy issues. His career has spanned more than two decades and taken him all over the world. He started out as a public safety reporter at a regional newspaper in western Kentucky in 2002, and has since held writing and editing positions at publications in Indiana, Beijing, South Dakota, Massachusetts and South Carolina. Nesbitt most recently served as editor of The Post and Courier Columbia in South Carolina before joining Employee Benefit News in October 2025.
Nesbitt has been recognized for excellence in journalism with multiple awards, including honors in headline writing from the South Dakota Newspaper Association and the Associated Press Great Plains Newspaper Contest, and accolades for community affairs and public service reporting, feature writing, and news coverage from the Indiana Associated Press Managing Editors, Hoosier State Press Association, Kentucky State Press Association, and The E.W. Scripps Company. Most recently, he was awarded the Most Impactful Reporting Award for 2025 from Employee Benefit News.
Alex D. Pappas is an associate in Hunton's Insurance Coverage group in the firm's Washington, DC office. He counsels clients on all aspects of insurance coverage, guiding them in obtaining appropriate coverage and resolving disputes over coverage, including in litigation and arbitration.
Forecasting has become more challenging, including developing assumptions for the recoverability of goodwill and nonfinancial assets, as well as the realizability of deferred tax assets, making going-concern determinations and figuring other asset impairments more difficult, according to the report.
Nevertheless, audit committees are adapting to the new environment, as their companies allow more flexibility for remote work. Among the biggest areas of concern cited by the 114 U.S. audit committee members polled by the KPMG Audit Committee Institute are disclosures about the current and potential effects of COVID-19 (79 percent), preparation of forward-looking cash flow estimates (48 percent), and impairment of nonfinancial assets such as goodwill and other intangible assets (43 percent).
Audit committee members indicated that the remote work environment accelerated by COVID-19 has so far had little impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of their interactions with the management team and auditors.
Companies are reassessing their internal controls in response to COVID-19-related disruptions to their business operations. The most commonly cited disruptions included return-to-work plans (73 percent), IT system access and authentication for remote workers (69 percent) and cybersecurity (66 percent).
Audit committee members expect some environmental, social and governance issues to get much more attention from boards as a result of COVID-19 and recent protests against systemic racism. Survey respondents cited employee health, safety and well-being (85 percent), diversity within the company including the boardroom (53 percent) and corporate reputation (39 percent) as areas of greater focus for boards.
The pandemic has also caused many audit committees to reassess the scope of their workload agendas in addition to their risk oversight responsibilities. Most audit committee members who responded to the survey cited oversight responsibilities for a variety of COVID-related risks, including financial risks (83 percent), legal and regulatory compliance (70 percent), cybersecurity (62 percent) and data privacy (42 percent).
