Restoring trust in Audit and Corporate Governance

Published: 13 September 2023

1 minute read

Introduction

The Financial Reporting Council has published a Position Paper setting out the next steps to reform the UK’s audit and corporate governance framework.

The paper follows the Government Response to the consultation on strengthening the UK’s Corporate Governance, Corporate Reporting and Audit systems, including the creation of the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority (ARGA), to take over from the FRC.

We build on the areas of the Government Response that fall within our remit, to provide advanced clarity for stakeholders on how the work of reform will be delivered ahead of government legislation. That work includes revising existing codes, strengthening auditing and accounting standards, setting expectations to drive behavioural change ahead of statutory powers, and the development of guidance to address issues set out in the Government Response.

Listen to Kate O'Neill, Mark Babington and Sarah Rapson talking about the Position Paper below.

Resources

Public Interest Principles

In its response to the White paper on Restoring Trust in Audit and Corporate Governance, the Government committed to expanding the definition of a public interest entity (PIE) to also include companies with over 750 employees and a turnover of over £750m. Much of the scope of ARGA’s work is expected to be determined by this new definition, however, the Government also recognised there will be exceptional circumstances where ARGA should take regulatory action in areas of public interest that are not within this regulatory focus.

We will use the principles below to help assess whether the public interest is best served by carrying out regulatory, supervisory and enforcement work that is outside of our regulatory perimeter.

Public Interest Principles Documents

General principles for considering the public interest in our work

BEIS Consultation Document 2021

The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) published its consultation into "Restoring trust in audit and corporate governance" on 18 March 2021.

The FRC welcomed this consultation and convened a number of events so that all stakeholders could engage with and discuss the key themes of the consultation and feedback to the Government.

Consultation Document resources

Listen to Sir Jonathan Thompson's introduction to the consultation below.

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