Following on from the UK Financial Reporting Council (FRC) publishing its plan and budget for 2024-25 earlier this year, the King’s Speech in July signalled that the long-awaited transition of the FRC to a new Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority could now be firmly on the horizon. In an effort to strengthen audit and corporate governance, the new Labour government has set out its intention to revamp the regulator via the ‘Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill’.
In the meantime, on 25 July 2024, the FRC published its 2024 Annual Enforcement Review (the Review), which provides an overview of its investigations and enforcement activity in 2023/24. In addition to setting out specific examples of FRC investigations, the Review details key themes and trends in the FRC’s enforcement activities, highlighting a number of areas that should be on the radar for professional services firms. Corporates should also be aware of these themes that they will likely see from their audit firms or auditors. We have published a new briefing in which we take a look at some of the key insights from the Review.