Cybersecurity is audit committees’ top priority

Cybersecurity is still audit committees’ top priority, a survey by Deloitte and the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ) found. The survey polled 237 board members, most of them at large public US companies. A whopping 93% of respondents named cybersecurity among the top three issues they’d focus on in 2025. And fully half said it was their #1 priority. Cybersecurity has been audit committees’ biggest concern since 2022, when the survey was first conducted.

Not surprisingly, then, respondents named cybersecurity acumen as the top skill committee members need to be more effective in 2025. Half (50%) placed it among the top three skills members should cultivate. And nearly as many (48%) said committee members should grow non-cybersecurity-related tech skills as well.

Three-quarters of respondents also said they’d emphasize enterprise risk management this year (76% placed it in their top three priorities), and 65% said finance and internal audit talent would be top of mind.

Grading on a curve? Audit committee members gave themselves high marks for conducting effective meetings. Almost all of them agreed that their committee’s meetings leverage their expertise (98% said they “agree” or “strongly agree”), and use time efficiently (96%), and that they’re asked challenging questions (97%). And nearly a third (31%) said that none of the survey's suggested strategies would improve meetings.

That said, 40% would like to see better presentations, and 34% thought committee members needed to be more engaged or have deeper discussions.