We have published our comment letter on the Financial Reporting Council's ('FRC's') consultation on its draft proposal for a minimum standard for audit committees.

We acknowledge that the draft Standard has addressed the specific recommendation arising from the Competition & Markets Authority’s inquiry.  Additionally we:

• Suggest amending the title of the Standard to make clear that it is only covering the audit committee’s role in relation to audit tendering and oversight of the audit process.
• Encourage the FRC to include information on how enforcement of the standard will take place by the FRC.
• Encourage the FRC to include more guidance on how audit committees are likely to be judged by the FRC and, if audit quality is the key objective, how the audit committee can be put in an informed position to be able to assess this.
• Believe that there should be more emphasis in the ‘Oversight of Auditors and Audit’ section on what the audit committee needs to do to encourage robust and effective systems and the provision of high-quality information for the auditor to audit, i.e. the role of
  management.

Our full comment letter is available below.

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