Chair of audit watchdog the FRC Simon Dingemans resigns after less than nine months
Former Glaxosmithkline finance boss Simon Dingemans has stepped down as chair of audit watchdog the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) less than nine months after taking the role.
Dingemans was appointed last July to chair the FRC and oversee its transformation to the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority (ARGA) after the FRC was heavily criticised for a series of failings.
In a statement the FRC said Dingemans was stepping down at the end of May because of the conflicts between the part-time role and other positions he was interested in taking.
“It was agreed as part of his appointment process that Simon Dingemans could take on additional roles provided they did not conflict with his responsibilities at the FRC. This has not proved possible and so it is with regret that Mr Dingemans has informed the Board and the Secretary of State that he intends to step down from the FRC at the end of May,” the statement said.
Dingemans was chief financial officer at Glaxo until May 2019. He was previously an M&A banker at Goldman Sachs and Warburg Pincus.
Dingemans has faced questions about his own business dealings since taking the role as FRC chair.
Private Eye reported that a company he was director of, Grenofen Investments, was late filing accounts.
An application to strike the company off signed by Dingemans and dated 1 July 2019 was filed at Companies House on 1 August.
Dingemans appointment was approved by MPs in the intervening period , but Grenofen was not listed on the declaration of interests on his application.
Dingemans told the Telegraph in February that the failure to include Grenofen was due to slow processing of the strike off documents.
“Grenofen was not included in my application for the role at the FRC as it was expected to have been wound up in early 2019. That didn’t happen due to delays in processing the application despite having signed the relevant paperwork. As a result, Grenofen was included in my declarations on taking up my role in October,” he said.
An FRC spokesperson declined to comment on whether Dingemans resignation was related to the Private Eye story.
The FRC said Dingemans is expected to return to the private sector. It said it had started the hunt for a new chair.