Preparing for the UK Stewardship Code 2026

In the latest ‘In Conversation’ podcast episode, Mark Babington, Executive Director of Regulatory Standards, discusses the UK sustainability reporting landscape and the FRC’s respective roles with Kate O’Neill. Mark and Kate talk through the Government's recently issued UK Sustainability Reporting Standards and the FRC's ongoing work to support high-quality sustainability assurance engagements.

In the latest in-conversation podcast series, Kate O’Neill sits down with Richard Moriarty, Chief Executive, and Anthony Barrett, Executive Director of Supervision to discuss the FRC’s evolved approach to Audit Supervision. The new model sets out a more proportionate, effective and integrated framework aimed at strengthening audit quality and reinforcing resilience across the UK audit market. Implementation will begin in April 2026 for the largest firms.

In this podcast, Kate O'Neill, Director of Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Affairs, and Andrew Meek, Director of Audit Firm Supervision, discuss the FRC's ongoing initiative to build capacity and capability for smaller firms operating in the Public Interest Entity audit market. The discussion focuses on the initial reception to the FRC’s initiative to support smaller firms, as well as how the FRC is delivering proportionate supervisory activity while supporting the public interest and maintaining accountability. In addition, the podcast sets out the FRC’s approach to strengthening firms’ systems of quality management, supporting audit quality and aligning with the FRC’s Future of Audit Supervision Strategy.

For this "In Conversation" podcast episode on the FRC's Draft Plan and Budget for 2026/27, Kate O'Neill, Director of Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Affairs, is joined by Vinita Hill, Chief Operating Officer, and George Horgan, Head of Strategic Planning and Delivery. They discuss the priorities shaping the FRC’s work for the year ahead, the progress of its three year strategy for 2025-2028, and what stakeholders can expect from the consultation process.

For the latest episode of the Financial Reporting Council's 'In Conversation' podcast series, Kate O'Neill, Director of Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Affairs, is joined by Anthony Barrett, Executive Director of Supervision, and Jamie Symington, Deputy Executive Counsel, to discuss the progress of the FRC's consultation on proposed amendments to the Audit Enforcement Procedure, which launched in October 2025 as part of its end-to-end review of its enforcement processes, and what we’ve heard so far from stakeholders.

For this "In Conversation" podcast episode, Kate O’Neill, Director of Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Affairs at the FRC, is joined by Lauren Tynen, Senior Corporate Governance Policy Associate, and Fiona Graham, COO of Family Business UK, to discuss the FRC’s latest Wates Principles reporting insights. They examine how the Principles support transparency, outcomes-based reporting, and active decision-making for private companies, and share practical guidance from the FRC’s 2025 review.

Join Kate O'Neill, Director of Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Affairs, Dhruve Shah, Deputy Director of Professional Bodies Supervision, and Laura Warren, Director of Market Intelligence & Insights, as they discuss some of the work the FRC has been doing this year to support growth through proportionate regulation, such as helping auditors tailor their approach to match the size and complexity of each client, because not all large companies are complex, and not all small ones are simple.

In the latest episode of the FRC’s In Conversation podcast series, host Kate O’Neill sits down with Jessica Dahlstrom, Head of Corporate Governance, and Kelvin Ernest, Senior Policy Associate in the Corporate Governance team, to unpack the recent update to the guidance for the Corporate Governance Code. Together, they explore how the code's principles offer companies greater flexibility in structuring remuneration for non-executive directors, and how the change supports good governance in the UK.

In this In-Conversation podcast episode, Andrea Tweedie, Head of Stewardship, sits down with Director of Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Affairs, Kate O’Neill to discuss the FRC's latest report, "Preparing for the UK Stewardship Code 2026 – applying insights from current reporting", and how its findings may help signatories to the UK Stewardship Code through the Code's transition year.

In this episode, Richard Moriarty, CEO, joins Kate O'Neill, Director of Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Affairs, to discuss the FRC's proposals to update the Audit Enforcement Procedure as part of its End-to-end Enforcement Process Review. The proposals aim to expand the FRC's regulatory toolkit to deliver proportionate responses to different types of failings, and Richard and Kate discuss how the proposed expansion from two enforcement routes to five will enable this, before outlining the FRC's comprehensive plan to engage with a range of stakeholders across webinars and roundtables.   The FRC is hosting a webinar on Wednesday 8 October to discuss the proposals in detail, with an opportunity for Q&A with the expert speakers: Elizabeth Barrett, Executive Director of Enforcement, Kate O'Neill, Director of Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Affairs, and Anthony Barrett, Director of Audit Quality Review.