FRC Issues Discussion Paper On Preliminary Announcements

On 27 April 2017, the FRC issued a discussion paper on the role of auditors and preliminary announcements, intending to provoke discussion about how the value of preliminary announcements may be improved. It proposes changes from the current auditor guidance, including:

• expanding the parameters of current FRC auditor guidance to include voluntary engagements where companies outside the main UK listed market ask their auditors to agree the release of a preliminary announcement—the FRC proposes that the guidance should be extended to AIM companies as well as its current application to Main Market companies;
• requiring audits to be complete and the auditor's report on the statutory financial statements to be signed before preliminary results may be released in order to mitigate the risk of mismatching information and to provide more clarity;