FRC issues a Discussion Paper on the role of Auditors and Preliminary Announcements

27 April 2017

Preliminary announcements are an important part of the corporate reporting landscape in the UK. The FRC has issued a discussion paper which considers the role of auditors and preliminary announcements of annual results, with a particular focus on the LSE main market.

The FRC discussion paper is intended to stimulate an open discussion with stakeholders about the use and value of preliminary announcements in the UK, and the role of the auditor in respect to such announcements. This will support the updating of our current auditor guidance.

The most common approach is for preliminary results to be based on audited information, although a minority of companies publishes preliminaries based on unaudited information. Some listed entities have been moving towards the simultaneous publication of annual results in ‘preliminary’ form alongside the statutory financial statements.

FRC´s stakeholder engagement suggests that there is limited understanding of the current role of the auditor when agreeing to the publication of preliminaries. The FRC has therefore identified a range of options to support the revision of our guidance, and provide greater clarity.

The FRC is inviting comments on this Discussion Paper by 5pm on Friday, 23 June 2017.

Discussion paper

Full press release

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