FRC

Quindell and Carillion

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) have announced that they have fined audit firm Arrandco (formerly RSM Tenon) £750,000 and the Audit Partner Jeremy Filley £56,000 in relation to the audit of the financial statements of Quindell for the 2011 accounts. They also “reprimanded” both parties and Tenon had to pay £90,000 in costs. Both parties admitted liability. Two of their errors were a “failure to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence and failure to exercise sufficient professional scepticism”. In other words, quite ...
Post Date: January 29, 2018 Read more

Private Investor Dialogue with the FRC

Following the success of the last year's FRC event (photo below) a date of 26th November 2018 has been agreed for a Private Investor Dialogue with the FRC. Please put the date in your diaries. More details will follow later in the year.   Click here to see the feedback survey results of last year’s event. The FRC were very pleased with the event and the feedback research. We continue to have regular meetings with the FRC and are increasingly being invited to ...
Post Date: January 16, 2018 Read more

FRC Corporate Governance Consultation and FCA Consultation on Competition

The FRC has launched a consultation on the Corporate Governance Code. https://www.frc.org.uk/consultation-list/2017/consulting-on-a-revised-uk-corporate-governance-co The FCA has launched a Consultation on Competition https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/corporate/our-approach-competition.pdf ShareSoc will most likely be making a joint response with the UK Shareholders’ Association to both of these consultations. You are welcome to send your views to cliff.weight@sharesoc.org . Peter Parry and I will consider them in making our response. You are also welcome to submit your own comments/response directly to the FRC/FCA, but please state that they are your views (you cannot assume that ...
Post Date: December 12, 2017 Read more

Stale Directors and the UK Corporate Governance Code

One interesting fact highlighted by the Financial Times today was the impact of the proposed new UK Corporate Governance Code on company Chairmen. It pointed out that the change in the Code to limit the length of service of directors will include their time as Chairmen and will mean dozens of long-standing Chairmen may need to retire. The FT suggests 67 FTSE-100 chairmen will be affected, and there will be another 48 chairmen of FTSE-250 companies according to an analysis by the ...
Post Date: December 12, 2017 Read more

Further on the FRC and its Report on the HBOS Audit

Roger’s blog makes a number of hard hitting points about the FRC. However, there are some promising actions which indicate change is happening at the FRC. The meeting with the FRC and ShareSoc and UKSA members on 21 November was most helpful in establishing a good working relationship with the FRC. There are promising signs that the FRC want to work closely with us and we have been asked to put representatives onto a number of their committees and working groups. More ...
Post Date: December 12, 2017 Read more

Brexit, HBOS, Globo and the FRC

Is it not heartening that the Brexit divorce bill, and other terms, have been settled? The exact cost is unclear but it could be up to £40 billion – a lot of money you may say! However, the fact that the key negotiators, Mrs May, Barnier et al, all looked somewhat glum about the deal when announced perhaps tells us that it was a compromise in which both sides had to concede ground. Or perhaps they were just tired. The terms ...
Post Date: December 12, 2017 Read more

New Corporate Governance Code

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) have published a new UK Corporate Governance Code – a draft that is subject to public consultation. The revised Code sets out good practice so that the boards of companies can: Establish a company’s purpose, strategy and values and satisfy themselves that these and their culture are aligned; Undertake effective engagement with wider stakeholders, to improve trust and achieve mutual benefit, and to have regard to wider society; Gather views of the workforce; Ensure appointments to ...
Post Date: December 5, 2017 Read more

FRC study: Risk and Viability Reporting

In July of this year, UKSA and ShareSoc members received an email inviting them to participate in a survey being run by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC). The survey was part of a wider study being carried out by the FRC into Risk and Viability Reporting. Over 190 members responded which was an excellent result. The FRC agreed that it would provide feedback for members on the results of the survey. This article from Patrick Leach at the FRC summarises the ...
Post Date: November 25, 2017 Read more

Standard Life UK Smaller Companies and FRC Meetings

Yesterday I attended two meetings in the City of London. Here are brief reports on each. Standard Life UK Smaller Companies Trust Plc (SLS) held a meeting for investors to “meet the manager” in London as their AGM was in Edinburgh this year – only about 10 people attended the latter so there were more in London. I have held this trust for some years and the manager, Harry Nimmo, who has been with the company for 33 years has been a ...
Post Date: November 22, 2017 Read more

Round up on recent FRC and FCA developments

Our event at the FRC on 21 November, when the FRC will explain what they do and listen to members’ feedback, is a sellout and we are now operating a waiting list. Below is a roundup of recent FRC and FCA developments, to inform attendees and help guide questioning. FRC says corporate reporting could still be improved In its annual review of corporate reporting, the FRC said disclosures by large listed UK companies are generally good but detailed explanations and clarity could still ...
Post Date: November 14, 2017 Read more