The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has published its progress and planning report on the final quarter of 2008, giving both itself and company reporting a clean sheet in a period which saw a swathe of companies fold without warning.
The FRC which has been entirely inactive in the field of corporate governance (despite reports that the Financial Services Authority has been busier than ever), concluded that corporate reports for the last three months of 2008 were “relevant, reliable, understandable and comparable, and are useful for decision-making, including stewardship decisions”.
It also said that “users of audit reports can place a high degree of reliance on the audit opinion, including whether financial statements show a true and fair view.” A further subject of the FRC’s six key areas of activity is self-monitoring. Happily, the FRC’s investigations into itself have showed that it is an “effective and independent regulator, actively helping to shape… corporate reporting and governance.”
In the same quarter Gordon Brown unveiled a £500 billion aid package for Britain’s banks, which had become insolvent despite receiving a clean bill of health from their auditors.
The FRC has an annual core budget in the region of £12 million (excluding the Audit Inspection Unit, the Accounting Disciplinary Board and its actuarial wing) and employs 75 professionals plus support staff.