Roundtable invitation: SME audit market study
News types:
Published: 14 August 2025
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) invites stakeholders to attend a series of roundtables to inform its small and medium sized enterprises (SME) market study. This engagement forms part of the FRC’s continued work to examine the effectiveness of the SME audit market and explore opportunities to support stakeholders impacted by SME audit.
This engagement follows the publication of the FRC’s emerging findings to its SME audit market study, published on 17 July, alongside a consultation on new Practice Note guidance to help auditors deliver more proportionate audits of these businesses. The emerging findings found that:
- Auditors perceive a lack of scalability in auditing standards for smaller businesses
- Smaller audit firms believe that regulators expect them to do unnecessary work on SME audits
- Technology adoption presents both opportunities and challenges for smaller practitioners operating in this market
- Statutory audits may not always be the most proportionate approach for all SMEs seeking assurance
- Knowledge and resource constraints affecting both SMEs and auditors may be impacting the efficiency of the audit process
In addition to these findings, the FRC also set out potential remedies aimed at supporting market effectiveness. This second phase of market study engagement will aim to explore these remedies in detail and provide stakeholders with an opportunity to comment on the FRC’s proposed actions to support the SME audit market.
The first roundtable is taking place on Tuesday 9 September, with more roundtables taking place across September and October.
Register your place for the roundtables.
Read the emerging findings report
Read the Exposure Draft for the Practice Note for audits of smaller and/or less complex entities and the invitation to comment