Ministers to start searching for new audit watchdog chair
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The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) will shortly kick off the search for the new chair of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC).
BEIS will advertise for the role in the coming weeks, Sky News first reported.
The FRC’s current interim chair Keith Skeoch has reportedly had his contract extended in recent weeks until October. He was initially meant to serve just six months in the role until a permanent replacement was found.
Skeoch previously served as a non-executive director at the FRC and was appointed chair last October by then business secretary Alok Sharma.
The search for a new chair will begin following the publication of a wide-ranging BEIS consultation, which contained measures designed to water down the dominance of Big Four firms Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC in the audit sector.
The consultation paper also confirmed that ARGA – the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority – would eventually take over from the FRC.
ARGA is set to have more powers than the FRC, including the power to impose an operational split between the audit and non-audit functions of accountancy firms.
The FRC has been contacted for comment. BEIS declined to comment.