审计委员会作为公司治理的基本要素 ,在财务信息披露过程中扮演了重要的角色.有效的审计委员会制度不仅能缩小上市公司与管理当局之间的期望差距 ,还可以提高审计人员的独立性.该文主要介绍了审计委员会制度在美、英、加三国的发展状况 ,以期对优化我国公司内部治理机制有所裨益.“,”as an essential element of coporate govenance,the audit committees have an important role to play in the fimancial information disclosure.An effective audit committee can help to close the expectation gap between management and the public,and enhance the independence of the external auditor.This paper mainly looks at the development of audit committees in the US,the UK,and Canada,from which there will gain a good deal of enlightenment for our country in this area.