FRC launches consultation to take on registration of auditors of PIEs
14 Apr, 2022
The Financial reporting Council (FRC) has launched a consultation to take responsibility for the registration of auditors of public interest entities (PIEs) from the recognised supervisory bodies (RSBs)
The proposal, as recommended by the Kingman review and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) White Paper, will bolster the FRC's regulatory toolkit and give the FRC powers to make make timely interventions and ensure audit firms are run in a manner that enhances audit quality.
Currently, the FRC has insufficient powers to address systemic issues at the firms and must rely on the registration powers of the RSBs. By directly registering audit firms and individuals signing PIE audit reports, the FRC will be able to act decisively when it identifies systemic issues in audit. The FRC will be able to impose conditions, suspensions and remove registration where required. The FRC will work closely with the RSBs and other stakeholders to implement the new registration process.
The consultation is open until 26 May 2022. A press release and the consultation are available on the FRC website.
