The FRC & The Regulators' Code
Overview
The FRC embodies the Regulators’ Code in our objectives, values, and behaviours. In carrying out our regulatory work we comply with the code and follow the principles of good regulation set out in the 6 tenets. We seek to be proportionate, accountable, consistent, transparent, and targeted in the way we discharge our responsibilities. In all our work our primary responsibility is to pursue the public interest in our activities. You can find a comprehensive breakdown of our disclosures and compliance to the Regulators’ Code in our paper ‘Our Approach to Regulation: The FRC and the Regulators’ Code’.
| Name | Our Approach to Regulation: The FRC and the Regulators’ Code |
|---|---|
| Publication date | 6 August 2024 |
| Format | PDF, 397.6 KB |
Comment and Engagement
Every year the FRC consults our stakeholders on our broad range of activities. This includes our proposals on new codes, standards, guidance, as well as our funding arrangements. Our formal consultations normally last 12 weeks, save when an urgent response is required or when there is good reason to shorten or lengthen this.
For issues that require wider debate, an initial consultation document may be published and/or outreach conducted with interested parties.
Contact Details
We provide accessible and straight forward ways for our stakeholders to contact us for any enquiry. Our ‘Contact Us’ page linked below will display all the information you need to contact the FRC for enquiries, whether this be for investors, levy and funding or public affairs, all our contact information can be found below.
Setting Standards
We believe that high standards of ethics and independence, auditing, assurance, reporting, and governance support the efficient working of the capital markets and help attract investment; they benefit market participants as well as investors and the wider public who rely on their work.
To achieve this, we use a more collaborative mixed approach to regulation, which brings together Codes and Standards with best practice drawn from market participants. We have found this to be effective in avoiding additional mandatory regulation. Our role in setting standards and codes gives us a unique perspective in the effectiveness of our work. We publish annual assessments of all issues we identify in our regulatory work and provide specific updates on aspects of auditing, reporting and governance where we believe that these will be helpful to market participants.
Notice
The following documents are currently under review.
| Name | Framework for developing Standards, Statements of Practice, Codes and Guidance |
|---|---|
| Publication date | 6 August 2024 |
| Format | PDF, 154.4 KB |
| Name | Principles for the development of Codes, Standards and Guidance |
| Publication date | 6 January 2014 |
| Format | PDF, 170.8 KB |
Monitoring and Supervision
Our supervisory objective is to promote high audit quality and a resilient UK audit market. To achieve this, we take a forward-looking approach, identifying and prioritising what firms need to do to improve audit quality and enhance resilience, and holding them accountable for delivering it. Our approach is risk-based, focusing on those firms that have the largest share in the PIE audit market, where weaknesses are likely to have the greatest impact on overall audit quality, in the public interest. Our supervision model requires regular contact between our supervisors and audit firms, and we maintain an oversight relationship with the professional bodies we regulate. This involves informal consultation and engagement, as well as formal consultation where applicable. A more comprehensive and detailed account of our supervisory approach can be found below.
The aim of our monitoring work is to ensure that the provision of financial information by public and large private companies complies with relevant reporting requirements and to support continuous improvement in the quality of corporate reporting. Our Corporate Reporting Review (CRR) team use a risk-based selection process to identify reports for review each year and undertakes thematic reviews. Our role is to enquire into cases where it appears the requirements have not been followed – and we engage in correspondence with the companies whose reports we review, seeking corrections where necessary.
Enforcement
Our mission is to serve the public interest by setting high standards of corporate governance, reporting and audit. The potential harm to the public interest is what drives our rigorous approach to enforcement. Our enforcement procedures are designed to be both effective and fair yet ensure that we operate in line with the requirements of the law, and the principles of natural justice. We report annually on our enforcement activities and findings, which can be found below. Further information can be found on our Enforcement procedure page.
Complaints
The FRC welcomes any complaints made by stakeholders, so that we can address those issues seriously and proportionately. The complaints form is accessed from our contact us page on the FRC website, or you can find the link below.
How we are Funded
The FRC’s funding comes from a number of sources. Our main funding groups are:
- The audit and accountancy professional bodies
- Listed companies and other specified groups of accounts preparers
- Insurance companies and pension schemes.
The FRC funding arrangements for the new financial year can be found in the FRC 3-year plan. Every year we consult our stakeholders on our plan and budget and funding arrangements.
We have also held consultations on our proposed funding framework for ARGA, and have also published initial consultation documents, outlining our proposals in detail.
Important documents
| Name | FRC Annual Report and Accounts 2023/24 |
|---|---|
| Publication date | 24 July 2024 |
| Type | Annual report |
| Format | PDF, 6.7 MB |
| Name | Financial Reporting Council: Plan and Budget 2024-25 |
| Publication date | 25 March 2024 |
| Format | PDF, 1.7 MB |