Editorial

Although a great deal of attention is being paid in the news to Brexit, this is not the only thing going on in the UK at the moment, and this month’s issue of World Accounting Report includes coverage of developments at the Financial Reporting Council: its latest reports on the audit quality of the UK’s biggest audit firms, which are covered in the News and Analysis section on p 7, along with some management changes at the board level. It is particularly disappointing to see a decline in audit quality at a time when the FRC’s latest sanctions and investigations, also covered in this issue, reinforce the feeling that there is still much to be done to protect investors. Although, as the case of all the staff who lost their jobs working for British Home Stores shows all too clearly, investors are not the only people who have a legitimate interest in the reliability of company financial statements.