The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has released its 2025-28 Strategy and 2025-26 Annual Business Plan and Budget on 20 March 2025, outlining changes to support UK economic growth through targeted regulation. The strategy includes reviews of audit firm supervision, expansion of the Scalebox initiative for smaller firms, and preparations for upcoming legislative changes to modernise FRC's statutory powers. The plan aims to improve capital access while maintaining audit, reporting and governance standards, with the regulator adopting a more flexible approach to corporate governance following recent Code revisions.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has published version 2.1 of Technical Actuarial Standard 300: Pensions, updating requirements for actuarial work in response to changes in the pension funding regime. The revised standard aims to provide greater clarity on surplus management and removes outdated provisions. It becomes effective from 1 November 2025, with practitioners permitted to apply version 2.0 for funding valuations dated before 22 September 2024.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has revised three UK auditing standards—ISA (UK) 700, ISA (UK) 701 and ISA (UK) 720—following a public consultation, with the new standards taking effect on 15 December 2026. The revisions eliminate certain reporting requirements and for companies subject to the UK Corporate Governance Code introduce new requirements. Auditors must now describe how a company's controls influence the audit and report any very serious control deficiencies in their auditor's report.

The Financial Reporting Council's (FRC) Enforcement Committee has sanctioned Mazars LLP (Mazars) for failing to comply with the Regulatory Framework for Auditing in its audit of a Market Traded Company’s financial statements. The key failing was the incorrect classification of Convertible Loan Notes, which resulted in a material misstatement. This had not been identified by Mazars until post-audit, demonstrating a lack of quality control. Additionally, the FRC has raised concern over the way bonus payment were addressed. Mazars has been sanctioned with a regulatory penalty of £90,000, reduced by 20% for co-operation, making it £72,000.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has invited stakeholders to an online roundtable on 28 July 2026 to help shape new technical actuarial guidance for forthcoming rules on defined benefit (DB) pension scheme surplus payments to sponsoring employers. The FRC guidance is being developed to support actuaries certifying compliance with the draft Occupational Pension Schemes (Payments to Employer) Regulations 2027, currently under consultation by the Department for Work and Pensions until 2 September 2026.  The FRC intends to publish the guidance to coincide with the regulations coming into force in April 2027, thereby ensuring both measures take effect simultaneously.

Law360: The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) on 11 February 2025 confirmed that there are now 297 companies signed up to its stewardship code as it looks to finalise the latest iteration of the regime for investors this year.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has announced plans to develop technical guidance to support scheme actuaries in providing confirmation on pension scheme amendments following the Court of Appeal decision in Virgin Media Ltd v NTL Pension Trustees II Ltd [2024] EWCA Civ 843 which found that historic amendments to contracted-out defined benefit pension schemes (between 1997 and 2016) are void unless a written actuarial confirmation under section 37 of the Pension Schemes Act 1993 had been obtained at the time of the change. Provisions contained in the Pension Schemes Bill currently going through Parliament will permit retrospective confirmation of pension scheme amendments, enabling scheme actuaries to verify that historic benefit changes made by schemes met the necessary standards. In developing the guidance, the FRC is set to collaborate with industry professionals and actuarial bodies, including the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and the Association of Consulting Actuaries, and intends to publish the guidance once the expected legislation comes into force.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has updated 'Section 4 - Audit, Risk and Internal Control' of the Corporate Governance Code Guidance.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has updated the Remuneration section of its guidance on the UK Corporate Governance Code to clarify the approach to share-based remuneration for non-executive directors.

Law360: The Financial Reporting Council's (FRC) proposal to remove references to 'environment and society' in its standardised definition of stewardship for investors risks weakening the code and the outcomes it seeks to achieve, a financial services consultancy has said.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) welcomes the government's decisive action to address the significant backlog in local authority audits. The FRC understands the potential short-term implications of these measures, including the likelihood of a large number of disclaimed or modified audit opinions. In support of the government measures, the FRC will pause routine inspections of major local audits for financial years up to and including 2022/23, unless there is a clear public interest case to do so. This will allow auditors to focus on clearing the backlog and returning to timely reporting. The FRC is also coordinating with the National Audit Office (NAO) on guidance to support auditors with implementing the proposals set out by the government.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has brought its revised Audit Enforcement Procedure (AEP) into effect from 1 July 2026. The FRC published the revised AEP alongside accompanying policies on 17 June 2026, following a consultation period in Autumn 2025. The revised framework introduces a broader set of routes to resolution, intended to enable more targeted and timely responses to cases and to support system-wide improvement. The update aims to align the FRC's supervisory, investigatory and enforcement activity more closely within an integrated regulatory approach.