The FRC is pleased to announce the appointment of Dame Barbara Mills as the next Chair of the Professional Oversight Board and an executive director of the FRC.

The appointment follows the decision earlier this year by Sir John Bourn, who has served more than two full terms as Chair of the POB and its predecessor, the Review Board of the Accountancy Foundation, not to seek a further term of office. Dame Barbara will take over on 1 October, 2008.

Dame Barbara has been Adjudicator for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs since 1999. She is also a member of the Competition Commission.

Dame Barbara had a distinguished career as a barrister, becoming increasingly involved in financial fraud cases. From 1977 until 1981, she was Prosecuting Counsel to the Inland Revenue and was subsequently appointed Junior Treasury Counsel at the Central Criminal Court. In 1982, she was appointed a Recorder of the Crown Court and remained in this role until 1992. In 1986 she was appointed a Queen’s Counsel (senior barrister) and became a Department of Trade and Industry Inspector under the Financial Services Act. In 1990 she was appointed Director of the Serious Fraud Office and in this role dealt with the high profile BCCI and Guinness cases. She was Director of Public Prosecutions from 1992 to 1997.

Commenting on the appointment, Sir Christopher Hogg, FRC Chair, said:

“I am delighted that Dame Barbara has agreed to become the next Chair of the POB. I am confident that her wide and deep experience of public service in general and of the law relating to financial practice in particular will be of great value not only to the POB, but also to the FRC as a whole.”

Sir Christopher also paid tribute to Sir John Bourn.

“John has made a huge contribution to the FRC and the POB through a period of substantial change for both and, on behalf of the Board, I want to express our great appreciation. I am also grateful that during an especially busy time for the POB he agreed to stay on beyond the expiry of his last term until his successor had been chosen and could take office. We are fortunate that he will continue as an adviser to the FRC. “

1. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is the UK’s independent regulator responsible for promoting confidence in corporate reporting and governance.
2. The FRC’s functions are exercised principally by its 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 and Actuarial Discipline Board) and by the Board. The Committee on Corporate Governance assists the Board in its work on corporate governance.
3. 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.
4. Press enquires should be directed to Ian Rodger, telephone 020 7492 2395, email i.rodger@frc.org.uk