*/

/*-->*/

Britain's corporate regulator is planning a major overhaul of the way it works, after conceding that its activities are often “impenetrable” to outsiders.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said it would “streamline” its operating structure and reconsider what issues it wants to get involved in.

The FRC has a range of responsibilities, including regulating audit firms, enforcing financial reporting laws, setting accounting and governance rules, and monitoring actuaries.

The watchdog encompasses seven subsidiary bodies, which makes it hard for outsiders to understand exactly what it does and where its priorities lie.

FRC chairman Baroness Hogg said this week that had to change. Writing in the council's annual report, she said: “The FRC's structure is hard to understand, even by those who know us best, and impenetrable to others. The overlaps and gaps increase the risks that we will interfere too much in some areas and neglect others.”

The restructuring could see the watchdog shed some of its workload, said Hogg: 

“Some of our activities take us questionably far from our central responsibilities, which are to enhance the workings of capital markets.”

Topics