The Professional Oversight Board, an operating body of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), today published a new edition of Key Facts and Trends in the Accountancy Profession.

This brings together in one place a range of information both on the six chartered accountancy bodies and on the major audit firms.

Paul George, Director of the Oversight Board, said:

“The overall picture is of an accounting profession in good health with the numbers of students and members continuing to grow. The detail shows significant differences amongst the bodies, for example in terms of their size, age profile and the scale of their operations outside the UK.

The information on audit firms confirms the dominance of the largest four UK firms both in terms of their overall fee income and their share of the audit market for listed companies.”

Key Facts and Trends in the Accountancy Profession is at http://www.frc.org.uk/pob/publications/.  A hard copy version is expected to be published in approximately two weeks time. If you would like to receive a copy when it is available, please E-mail your name and address to Christina Trickett: c.trickett@frc-pob.org.uk.

1. The Financial Reporting Council (the FRC) is a unified, independent regulator. Its aim is to promote confidence in corporate reporting and governance. The FRC has six operating bodies: the Accounting Standards Board, the Auditing Practices Board, the Board for Actuarial Standards, the Financial Reporting Review Panel, the Professional Oversight Board and the Accountancy Investigation and Discipline Board.
2. The Professional Oversight Board contributes to the achievement of the Financial Reporting Council’s fundamental aim of promoting confidence in corporate reporting and governance. It has four main responsibilities:
   1. a statutory obligation to oversee the regulation of auditors by the recognised accountancy bodies;
   2. the monitoring of the quality of the auditing function in relation to economically significant entities;
   3. independent oversight of the regulation of the accountancy profession by the professional accountancy bodies;
   4. independent oversight of the regulation of the actuarial profession by the professional actuarial bodies.
3. The Chairman of the Professional Oversight Board is Sir John Bourn. He is the Comptroller and Auditor General.
4. The Professional Oversight Board is independent of the accountancy and actuarial professions. Its members have wide experience of business and the professions, the public sector, accountancy, auditing and actuarial work.
5. All press enquiries about the issues raised in the consultation document, should be directed to Paul George, Director of the Professional Oversight Board, telephone 020 7492 2340.