Research on preparers' use of FRS 101 Reduced Disclosure Framework

THIS IS A CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE - THIS TENDER HAS BEEN COMPLETED/AWARDED. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) regulates auditors, accountants and actuaries and sets the UK's Corporate Governance and Stewardship Codes. The FRC is also a prescribed body for issuing accounting standards in the UK and Republic of Ireland. The FRC's overriding objective in setting accounting standards is to enable users of accounts to receive high-quality, understandable financial reporting proportionate to the size and complexity of the entity and users' information needs. This research project will engage with UK companies to gather data about their use of a particular UK accounting standard: FRS 101 Reduced Disclosure Framework. However, the project will not require the successful contractor to have specialist knowledge of accounting. PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES (1) Groups applying FRS 101 The research will collect information from groups of companies that have chosen to apply FRS 101 in the preparation of UK qualifying entities' financial statements. For these groups, below is a snapshot of what we would like to know: a) the most significant reasons for preparers' choice to apply FRS 101 to the financial statements of qualifying group entities, and who (i.e. which job function) made this decision; b) which of the FRS 101 disclosure exemptions preparers consider to be useful, less useful, and why; (2) UK listed groups not applying FRS 101 The research will also engage with UK listed groups that could have chosen to apply FRS 101 in the preparation of qualifying entities' financial statements but did not do so. For these groups, below is a snapshot of what we would like to know: a) the most significant reasons why UK listed groups choose not to apply FRS 101, and who (which job function) makes this decision; b) what, if any, changes to FRS 101 would make these preparers likely to consider applying FRS 101 in the future and why these changes would be beneficial; and The research will identify prevalent views and concerns of UK listed groups. It should therefore include a sufficient number of participants of each type to ensure that prevalent views are identified. The FRC will consider significant matters identified by the research in more detail and may seek further evidence through its own stakeholder consultation and outreach activities. The research population will be UK groups listed on the London Stock Exchange Main Market (LSE MM - comprising FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 constituents, plus smaller main market listed entities) and the London Stock Exchange Alternative Investment Market (LSE AIM). In total this is expected to be approximately 2,000 groups. The FRC would like to collect information from across this population.