Future of Financial Reporting Council up for debate
The FRC board is to look at communications efficacy among its operating bodies in an internal investigation focusing on the regulator's future
THE FINANCIAL REPORTING COUNCIL is to launch an investigation into its efficacy and future.
Roger Marshall, chairman of sub-body the Accounting Standards Board, said the process started in late 2010 when the regulator began considering if it needs a different focus and how to make the group work better.
“I think everyone has started thinking about what lessons can be learnt from the financial crisis and its aftermath,” he said.
The FRC is made up of six operating bodies and communication among the groups is one of the primary focuses of the inquiry. The FRC board, which oversees the bodies, is to look into interactions among them and if these can be “maximised”.
Marshall revealed that there is also an appetite to strengthen the regulator’s powers, claiming that the ability to investigate what goes wrong in the early stages of accounting failures – rather than waiting until after the event – will make the FRC a more subtle and effective operator.
The power to investigate non-accountants such as company directors would also boost the FRC’s success when engaging on regulatory issues, Marshall argued.
He was echoed by other stakeholders, who claimed there is a gap in the market when it comes to this kind of investigation. The Financial Services Authority looks only into cases under its remit, while an inquiry by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills can take years, by which time “the markets have already moved on”, said Marshall.
Some observers have suggested that the process of strengthening the FRC could see it go in-house, moving away from its independent quango status and coming under direct government control. Marshall dismissed this proposal, saying that it is the regulator’s internal structure up for debate, not its basic configuration.