Name: SME Audit Market Study: What we've been hearing by Financial Reporting Council
Duration: 19 min 52 s
Description: Join Kate O'Neill, Director of Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Affairs, Mark Babington, Executive Director of Regulatory Standards, and Dhruve Shah, Deputy Director of Professional Body Supervision, as they run through some of the early themes and feedback from the FRC's SME audit market study.

Join Kate O'Neill, Director of Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Affairs, Mark Babington, Executive Director of Regulatory Standards, and Dhruve Shah, Deputy Director of Professional Body Supervision, as they run through some of the early themes and feedback from the FRC's SME audit market study. 

SME Audit Market Study: What we've been hearing

For the second episode of the FRC's podcast series exploring the UK Corporate Governance Code 2024, Kate O'Neill, Director of Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Affairs, sits down to discuss the principles-based nature of corporate governance and the importance of 'comply or explain' with Tedi Jorgi, Senior Corporate Governance Policy Associate, and Paul Lee, Head of Stewardship and Sustainable Investment Strategy at Redington.

The conversation explores why the UK's principles-based approach empowers boards rather than constrains them, addresses misconceptions around 'comply or else', and discusses how companies can embrace the flexibility the code offers whilst delivering meaningful reporting.

In Conversation: Applying Principles - UK Corporate Governance Code 2024

Join Kate O'Neill, Director of Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Affairs and Sarah Rapson, Executive Director of Supervision, as they discuss the FRC's latest phase of engagement on the Future of Audit Supervision Strategy (FASS). This episode explores how the FRC may evolve its supervisory approach to centre on firms' systems of quality management, moving towards a more proportionate and qualitative framework that supports audit quality across the entire market. Sarah shares insights from extensive stakeholder engagement and outlines key proposals including changes to inspection approaches and reporting methods. The consultation, running until 30 September, seeks views from all stakeholders with an interest in creating a supervisory environment that promotes a resilient audit market whilst reducing regulatory burden and supporting trust and confidence in UK businesses.

A consultation on the Future of Audit Supervision

For the third episode of the FRC's podcast series exploring the UK Corporate Governance Code 2024, Kate O’Neill, Director of Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Affairs, is joined by Maureen Beresford, Director of Corporate Governance and Stewardship at the FRC, and Wendy Barnes, portfolio non-executive director and cyber resilience advisor.

The conversation focuses on the growing importance of cyber risk in corporate governance, particularly in light of the revised Code coming into effect in 2026. They discuss how boards can approach cyber risk as a strategic issue rather than a purely technical one, the role of board-level oversight, and the importance of building organisational resilience. The episode also highlights practical tools and frameworks available to support boards in navigating this evolving area.

In Conversation: Board leadership in relation to cyber risk - UK Corporate Governance Code 2024

In the final episode of the FRC's podcast series on the UK Corporate Governance Code 2024, Kate O'Neill, Director of Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Affairs, is joined by Maureen Beresford, Director of Corporate Governance and Stewardship, and Kelvin Ernest Senior Policy Associate in the Corporate Governance team, for a thought-provoking discussion on the importance of remuneration and the vital role of the remuneration committee. Together, they unpack the purpose and significance of Section 5 of the Code, and explore why it plays such a crucial role in today's evolving corporate landscape.

In Conversation: Remuneration - UK Corporate Governance Code 2024

In this In Conversation podcast episode, Kate O'Neill, Director of Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Affairs, discusses the FRC's emerging findings of its market study examining how small and medium-sixed enterprises (SMEs) engage with the audit market alongside Laura Warren, Director of Market Intelligence and Insights, Dhruve Shah, Deputy Director of Professional Bodies Supervision, and Peter Kitson, Audit and Assurance Project Director. 
 
Kate, Laura, Dhruve and Peter speak about the importance of proportionality and scalability in audit standards, how the FRC has facilitated this by developing a practice note to help auditors apply ISAs more proportionately to smaller entities, and the various other proposed remedies emerging from the study's findings.
 
Details of how to take part in the next steps of the FRC's year long campaign to support SME's access to audit can be found on the FRC's website, including an invite to join its upcoming roundtables beginning 9 September 2025. 

Findings and remedies from the FRC's SME audit market study

Kate O'Neill, Director of Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Affairs, sits down with Pauline Wallace, Chair of the UK Endorsement Board, as she prepares to step down on 10 September after 5 years leading the UKEB. Pauline has seen the UKEB grow from its conception to the influential organisation that we see today, and in this podcast she reflects on major achievements and why the UKEB is critical to the UK’s financial reporting environment. 

In Conversation with Pauline Wallace: Five years as UKEB Chair

For this In Conversation podcast episode, Kate O'Neill, Director of Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Affairs, discusses the key changes in the recently revised UK Stewardship Code with Andrea Tweedie, Head of Stewardship.

Kate and Andrea cover the fundamental updates to the Code, including the revised definition of stewardship, its new reporting structure and restructured principles which differentiate between asset managers, asset owners, and service providers. They discuss the 2026 transition year arrangements, explaining how the transition year will work for existing signatories. Kate and Andrea also speak about the application process, touching on the support available for new and existing signatories.

UK Stewardship Code 2026: What you need to know

In this episode, Kate O'Neill, Director of Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Affairs, speaks with Andrew Meek, Director of Audit Firm Supervision, about the FRC's new initiative to build capacity and resilience in the smaller audit firm market.

They discuss how this collaborative approach will help smaller firms strengthen their quality management systems and explore the benefits for the wider UK audit market, including improved audit quality and greater choice for companies seeking audit services.

Building Capacity for Smaller Firms

In this episode Kate O'Neill, our Director of Stakeholder of Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Affairs sits down with our CEO, Richard Moriarty and Director of Strategy and Change, Miranda Craig to discuss the launch of the FRC's new Innovation and Improvement Hub which aims to create an explorative space to work collaboratively with market participants on issues of common concern.

Launching the FRC's Innovation and Improvement Hub

In this episode, Richard Moriarty, CEO, joins Kate O'Neill, Director of Stakeholder Engagement
and Corporate Affairs, to discuss the FRC's proposals to update the Audit Enforcement Procedure as part of its End-to-end Enforcement Process Review. The proposals aim to expand the FRC's regulatory toolkit to deliver proportionate responses to different types of failings, and Richard and Kate discuss how the proposed expansion from two enforcement routes to five will enable this, before outlining the FRC's comprehensive plan to engage with a range of stakeholders across webinars and roundtables.
 
The FRC is hosting a webinar on Wednesday 8 October to discuss the proposals in detail, with an
opportunity for Q&A with the expert speakers: Elizabeth Barrett, Executive Director of Enforcement, Kate O'Neill, Director of Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Affairs, and Anthony Barrett, Director of Audit Quality Review.

SME Audit Market Study: What we've been hearing

Financial Reporting Council

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