The regulator wants to extend the time the board can consider possible investigations and interventions from the current four months to six months.

The FRC said that ‘the current four-month period is considered to be too short a period to facilitate an effective reconsideration process by non-executive bodies. The proposed short extension by two months is intended to address this point’.

In addition, the case examiner will no longer have to wait for a referral from the audit quality review (AQR) if it flags problems with specific audits during the inspection process. Under the current rules, the examiner is not able to take any steps under the audit enforcement procedure ‘unless the matter is formally referred to them by the AQR team’.

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