UK government appoints four new directors to FRC in shakeup of audit regulator
The UK government has put four new directors on the board of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), amid a shakeup of the UK’s audit regulator.
The appointments come after former Rio Tinto chairman Sir Jan du Plessis – the government’s pick to head the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) – said the watchdog is in a “poor state” due to its top-level managers.
UK business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has appointed former Conservative Party MEP Sir Ashley Fox, former Herbert Smith Freehills CEO David Willis, former PwC partner Clare Thompson, and former Pinsent Masons solicitor Angela Cha, to sit on the FRC’s board.
Kwasi Kwarteng said: “These appointments, drawing together directors with a wide range of experience, put the FRC in a strong position, and I look forward to working with Sir Jan and his team as we bolster the quality of audit and governance across UK plc.”
The appointments come after the government announced plans to replace the FRC with a new audit regulator by 2023.
The plans to replace the FRC with a newly formed watchdog – dubbed the Audit, Reporting, and Governance Authority (ARGA) – come after the UK government ordered a review of the FRC in response to the Carillion, BHS, and Patisserie Valerie scandals.
Last month, Sir Jan du Plessis called for a shakeup of the FRC as he claimed the regulator is in a “pretty poor state” because of its leadership.
The South African called for a “new beginning” as he said the FRC had “evolved in a very British manner” which it has seen it rely on “informal understandings.”