Gareth Rees, the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC) QC in charge of its disciplinary system, has resigned after five years in post to join law firm King & Spalding
Rees’ role at the FRC involved conducting investigations into potential misconduct by firms, accountants and finance directors.
He is to return to legal practice as a partner in the London office of the US law firm King & Spalding.
When asked about Rees’ appointment, King & Spalding declined to comment. However, the FRC confirmed his resignation to join the firm. There is no news as yet on a possible replacement.
During Rees’ five years at the FRC, he was involved in several misconduct cases which led to record fines for both firms and their partners including Deloitte for its work on both Aero Inventory and MG Rover, the latter initially attracting a £14m fine, later reduced to £3m. Grant Thornton was fined £2.3m for its audit work on AssetCo, while PwC this year received a fine of £5.1m over failures in its audit of RSM Tenon.
The FRC is currently undertaking a review of its disciplinary sanctions.
In March, the FRC commenced an internal investigation after a member, barrister Stephen Wooler, leaked confidential information over the judgement of PwC’s audit of Connaught to the press.
