Introduction
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) regulates auditors, accountants and actuaries in the public interest by setting high standards of corporate governance, reporting and audit and by holding to account those responsible for delivering them.
Introduction from the Minister
Dear Candidate,
Thank you for your interest in being appointed as a Non-Executive Director at the Financial Reporting Council.
My Ministerial colleagues and I are committed to fair and open recruitment processes. We would like to see applications from a wide range of diverse backgrounds and experience throughout the UK. If you have the experience, skills and drive we are looking for, this is a rewarding role with opportunities for personal and professional challenges and growth.
This pack provides information about the purpose and the nature of the role which I hope will be of interest to you.
We look forward to receiving your application.
Kevin Hollinrake MP
Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Labour Markets
Introduction from the Chair
As Chair of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), I am pleased to work with the Department for Business and Trade as we embark on a search for up to four additional Non-Executive Directors to join the Board of the FRC.
As a regulator, the FRC has a forward-looking approach, which focuses on fair and proportionate regulation. It acts in an assertive but balanced manner to support the UK’s growth and competitiveness whilst serving the public interest in improving reporting, audit quality and governance; all of which is ultimately aimed at enhancing trust in corporate Britain.
Richard Moriarty has recently joined as our new CEO. He is leading an experienced and engaged senior executive team, ready to deliver on the next stage as a regulator of influence and impact across a broad remit. The relationship between the Board and executive team is a highly collegiate one.
As one of our new Non-Executive Directors, you will join peers who have actively chosen to take on the task of shaping the FRC’s strategy to support its broad remit, utilising its powers to become an exemplary regulator. You will be joining at an important moment for the FRC, as it launches the revised Corporate Governance Code and reviews its Stewardship Code, establishes a new office in Birmingham, and ensures its growth duty is appropriately embedded across all aspects of its work.
As Chair, one of the most attractive parts of this role is the sheer breadth of the FRC’s remit, which extends from its important competition, supervisory and oversight role in audit, to working with system partners to tackle the backlog in Local Audit, to its support for the Government’s pensions dashboard plans, to enhancing the FRC’s hard-earned credibility in influencing fellow regulators on the international stage - to name just a few. I look forward to welcoming the new Non-Executive Directors to the FRC at this critical and exciting time for our organisation.
Sir Jan du Plessis
Chair, Financial Reporting Council
Appointment description
We are looking for up to four Non-Executive Directors to join the Board of the FRC. The new directors will have the requisite skills and experience to complement the existing board members and to work with us on a range of interesting challenges.
Diversity
Boards of public bodies are most effective when they reflect the diversity of views of the society they serve, and this is an important part of the Government’s levelling up agenda. We encourage applications from talented individuals from all backgrounds and across the whole of the United Kingdom.
General Criteria
Membership as a Non-Executive on the Board of the FRC is a high-profile role, and candidates should have the reputation and credibility to develop relationships and command respect across the business, financial and professional services communities, as well as with Government, other regulatory agencies and the wider public.
Organisation description
The FRC monitors and takes enforcement action to prevent misconduct, ensures the proper operation of the market and promotes confidence in the UK economy and the UK’s international reputation as a great place to do business and invest.
The FRC has a significant breadth of scope amongst UK regulators. It sets the UK’s Corporate Governance Code, which for over 30 years has set the tone for Board behaviour and reporting.
It is also responsible for the Stewardship Code which aims to make investors and asset managers more accountable to their clients and beneficiaries. The FRC sets standards for UK GAAP accounting, audit, assurance and technical actuarial work. It also operates independent enforcement regimes for accountants and actuaries.
The FRC is incoming Shadow System Leader for Local Audit, working with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and other system partners to tackle the backlog in local audit and to build a sustainable local financial reporting and audit system.
As a regulator working in the public interest, the FRC needs to respond appropriately to political, economic, environmental and technological change. It must be transparent and act with integrity. It must be a well-governed and accountable public body, independent from those it regulates, and follow its own principles of good governance and reporting.
More information is available on the FRC website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/financial-reporting-council
The latest Annual Report can be viewed here: https://www.frc.org.uk/about-us/reports-plans-and-budgets/annual-report-and-accounts/
Board composition
The Board of the FRC is responsible for the long-term strategy and success of the FRC. The Board maintains prudent and effective controls to assess and manage risk, ensures resources are in place for the organisation to meet its objectives and reviews management performance. The Board also sets the values and culture and ensures that its obligations to its stakeholders and others are understood and met.
The Board comprises the Chair, the Chief Executive, the Chairs of the Standing and Regulatory Committees and other Non-Executive Eirectors. The full biographies can be viewed here:
www.frc.org.uk/about-the-frc/structure-of-the-frc/frc-board
Sir Jan du Plessis, FRC Chair and Chair, People Committee.
Clare Thompson, Senior Independent Director and Chair, Audit and Risk Committee.
Angela Cha, Non-Executive Director.
Hannah Nixon, Chair, Regulatory Standards and Codes Committee
Richard Moriarty, CEO.
David Willis, Chair, Conduct Committee
Ruwan Weerasekera, Chair, Supervision Committee
Regulation of appointment
This post is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. For more information, please refer to the
Commissioner’s website Essential criteria
All candidates should meet the following criteria:
• Current or previous employment in a senior executive role.
• Board experience, holding executive teams to account.
• Leadership experience with a proven ability to quickly earn the trust and confidence of other members of a Board and the Executive team.
• Ability to develop strategy and provide strategic direction in an organisation with numerous areas of responsibility.
• Ability to balance FRC’s regulatory functions alongside FRC’s updated remit to support growth and investment.
• Performance driven with fresh ideas, able to add value to Board discussions and provide appropriate, effective but constructive, challenge without creating conflict.
Desirable criteria
Whilst all the appointees will meet the above criteria, we are also looking for individuals with expertise in one or more of the specific areas which the Board has identified as priorities below:
• Substantial business experience at a senior executive level (for example Chief Executive or Chief Financial Officer) in a large and complex business.
• Deep insight into the world of institutional investment management and a good understanding of the dynamics and interactions between institutional investors and the boards and management of investee companies. Detailed knowledge of the Stewardship Code is not a requirement, but the candidate is likely to have some insight into the FRC’s expectations in relation to the Code.
• A good understanding of what drives high quality actuarial work, with some technical knowledge of the actuarial profession. An experienced practitioner or a user of actuarial work, likely to have been employed at a senior level in a consultancy, insurer, pension scheme or regulator. Fellowship of the IFOA is desirable but not a requirement.
• Significant experience and a good understanding of governance and external audit frameworks, at local government level. A track record of success at senior management or board level, within either local government, the NHS or the public sector audit agencies is desirable.
