The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is the UK's and the Republic of Ireland's independent regulator responsible for promoting high quality corporate governance and reporting to foster investment.
The FRC is a company limited by guarantee, partly funded by government and the industry and its board of directors is appointed by the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills. It and its subsidiaries play crucial roles in the oversight and development of corporate governance standards in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, such as the UK Corporate Governance Code and standards for the accounting industry.
The FRC board is supported by three committees:
The Codes and Standards Committee advise the FRC board on matters relating to codes, standard-setting and policy questions, through its Accounting, Actuarial and Audit & Assurance Councils (formerly Audit Practices Board). The Conduct Committee advise the FRC Board in matters relating to conduct activities to promote high-quality corporate reporting, including monitoring, oversight, investigative and disciplinary functions, through its Monitoring Committee and Case Management Committee. The Executive Committee will support the Board by advising on strategic issues and providing day-to-day oversight of the work of the FRC.
The FRC incorporates six operating bodies:
The role of the Accounting Standards Board (ASB) is to issue accounting standards in the United Kingdom. It is recognised for that purpose under the Companies Act 1985. It took over the task of setting accounting standards from the Accounting Standards Committee (ASC) in 1990. However, ASB was overtaken by Financial Reporting Council (FRC) on 2 July 2012. Thus, FRC is now the authority that may issue accounting standards in UK.
The Financial Reporting Review Panel (FRRP) was established in 1990 as a subsidiary of the United Kingdom's Financial Reporting Council. The FRRP seeks to ensure that the provision of financial information by public and large private companies complies with relevant accounting requirements such as the Companies Act 1985.