24 May 2019

UK Government: Auditing if there's no Brexit deal

The Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy ministry has published a guidance explaining what audit firms, auditors, and those with an audit qualification should do to prepare before the UK leaves the EU.

If the UK leaves the EU without a deal, the rules for auditing UK companies operating solely in the UK will not change.

There will be additional requirements for audits of UK companies operating in other EEA countries and the provision of auditing services there.

This guidance is aimed at:

• UK auditors, those with UK audit qualifications and audit firms operating in the EEA
• EEA auditors, those with EEA audit qualifications and audit firms operating in the UK
• clients of auditors and audit firms in either of the above categories

 

Audit committees

UK issuers of shares or debt securities that are only admitted to trading on EEA regulated markets will not be subject to the requirements in the Disclosure and Transparency Rules issued by the FCA.

All other UK public interest entities (banks, building societies, insurers and issuers of securities that trade on UK regulated markets) will still be subject to the Disclosure and Transparency Rules issued by the FCA, and other rules issued by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).

The current exemptions in these rules for businesses with a parent company that is subject to the same requirement will continue to apply if the parent is incorporated in the UK.

For subsidiaries that are issuers of securities on UK regulated markets, the parent may be subject either to the FCA’s or the PRA’s rules. For subsidiaries that are banks or insurers and qualify under the more limited exemption provided by the PRA, the parent must be subject to the PRA’s rules.

Full guidance

© UK Government