Lifting the lid on the FRC – An Event for Retail Shareholders

ShareSoc has organised a special event for its members, in conjunction with the Financial Reporting Council (the FRC), to take place on 21st November 2017, 2pm -5pm.

The FRC’s role is crucial to preserving your wealth. It is the organisation responsible for overseeing the quality of audit work carried out by an auditor. As such, it plays a crucial role in helping to protect your wealth. This is a unique opportunity, for UKSA and ShareSoc members only, for a direct dialogue with the FRC. The FRC, for their part, are keen to hear the views of serious individual investors.

This event, “Lifting the lid on the FRC – An Event for Retail Shareholders”, will be of interest to all active investors, not just retired accountants and actuaries. It will give you the chance to give your views on areas where change is needed and to interact with senior members of the FRC. It will be led by Tracy Vegro, Executive Director of Strategy at the FRC. Topics to be covered include:

The structure and remit of the FRC;
Improving standards of corporate reporting for investors;
Maintaining audit standards – audit reviews, standards setting and enforcement;
Stewardship and governance – holding directors, companies and auditors to account;
Changes and trends in auditing.

This event is for UKSA/ShareSoc members only. Delegates who are not already members of ShareSoc will be granted free associate membership.

Numbers are limited to 25 – BOOK YOUR PLACE NOW! Make you booking here, where you will also find further details of this event: https://www.sharesoc.org/events/lifting-lid-frc-event-retail-shareholders/

Further Background about the FRC

The Financial Reporting Council (www.frc.org.uk) is the UK’s independent regulator responsible for promoting high-quality corporate governance and reporting to foster investment. They promote high standards of corporate governance through the UK Corporate Governance Code and encourage engagement between investors and Boards through the Stewardship Code. They set standards for corporate reporting, audit and actuarial practice and monitor and enforce accounting and auditing standards. They also oversee the regulatory activities of the actuarial profession and the professional accountancy bodies and operate independent enforcement arrangements for public interest cases involving accountants and actuaries.

It is not unreasonable to suppose that the important work done by the FRC is not fully appreciated – or even understood – by everyone – let alone the business community. But we all rely on the written word in making our financial decisions. The FRC and the work that it does has an impact, directly or indirectly on all of us. This is why you should join us at this event at the FRC!

At the heart of any successful enterprise lies money. The input is investment and the output is profit, however defined. Information about all of this needs to be accurate, timely, consistent and understandable – and it needs to be enough – but not too much – and those responsible for preparing and delivering it need to be accountable – and brought to account where necessary!

The FRC’s annual Open Meeting took place a couple of weeks ago – and what their Chairman, Sir Win Bishoff and CEO Stephen Hadrill had to say about their work is both illuminating and also very relevant to Corporate Governance in the UK. You can read about this here – https://www.frc.org.uk/news/september-2017/speech-by-sir-win-bischoff-frc-annual-open-meeti

Here’s an extract from what they said around their Mission – which is – Our mission is to promote transparency and integrity in business. And forefront, here, are its plans to adapt UK corporate governance and to make it match-fit for Britain’s future as the obvious and natural place to do business in the world.

Over the past year, we have seen an unprecedented wave of political change in the UK and globally
High-quality corporate governance contributes to long-term company performance.
The UK has excellent standards of corporate governance, which makes the UK equity market attractive to new investment.
Successful companies support society by creating jobs, driving economic growth and helping the UK to prosper.
The FRC works in the public interest to ensure a strong flow of investment into UK companies so they can grow and support society.
We encourage well-run companies and high-quality work by auditors, accountants and actuaries. This builds trust among investors around the world.
We constantly monitor the quality of audits and company reports, and we act when we see misconduct or breaches of regulations.
Brexit adds urgency to all this. The UK’s departure from the EU has other implications for our work too.
The accountancy and actuarial professions in the UK are held in generally high regard around the world.

Post Date: October 17, 2017

Group description:	SIGnet Taunton is a new group with around 10 keen members at present, with a range of investment styles and experience. We welcome new members.
Meeting Type/Venue:	In person meetings at a golf club near to the centre of Taunton.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	We meet on the first Monday of every month at a golf club near to the centre of Taunton, 11am until 3pm with a lunch break.

Group description:	An online group for those who are new to investing, or have only been investing for a few years. Including topics such as: – What is a share or a bond, why and how to buy them. – Comparing funds, unit trusts, Investment trusts and exchange traded funds. – Portfolio management and diversification. – ISAs, pensions, SIPPS and how to save tax. – How terms such as PE ratio and dividend yield are used to value a share. – How to use technical analysis or charting.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Online using Zoom.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Meetings are usually held on the last Monday of the month at 7:00pm.

Group description:	An online group for those who already have some experience in investing. Covering topics such as finding companies to invest in, financial statements and ratios, valuation / margin of safety, analysis of companies and investment trusts and exchange traded funds.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Online using Zoom.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Meetings are usually held on the last Wednesday of the month at 7:00pm.

Group description:	The Equity Income Group welcomes investors of all levels of experience, from beginners to advanced. The focus of meetings is on dividend paying Investment Trusts, though there is also discussion around individual shares.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Meetings are held online.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Meetings are held every 6 weeks on a weekday between 7 and 8:30pm.

Group description:	The Group welcomes investors of all levels of experience, from beginners to advanced. The focus of meetings is on all types of income generating financial instruments, from stocks through Trusts and Funds and ETFs to retail bonds. Meetings involve presentations from members, who are also expected to lead discussions from time to time, as well as discussions on what has been bought and sold since the last meeting.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Meetings are in-person in a venue in Central London.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Meetings are usually held on the last Thursday of every other month, starting with an informal lunch around 1pm followed by discussions until around 5pm.

Group description:	A welcoming group open to all types of investors. Typical meeting content is to have a deep dive presentation on a topic selected by the participants and a session on buy/ sell/ key lessons learnt last month.
Meeting Type/Venue:	In person at a friendly pub close to Piccadilly Circus
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Monthly during the evening on the first Wednesday of the month.

Group description:	Our group is a broad church that contains investors of varying experience. Our members’ backgrounds are diverse and include corporate banking, engineering, teaching and the leisure industry. We generally pick a discussion topic for every meeting, e.g. housebuilders or the defence industry, and members are invited to research and discuss different aspects or companies within that industry. We also discuss stocks and investment trusts that we have bought, sold or are interested in and the reasons behind our decisions, and try to make sense of the ever changing investment environment. Discussions are robust and challenging but we are a friendly and approachable group who welcome investors of all levels – we just ask that you contribute, at whatever level you can.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Our meetings are held in a private room at a nice pub near to South Ealing tube station (Piccadilly Line), not far from Ealing Broadway (District, Central and Elizabeth Line).
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	We meet every 2 months, usually on a Wednesday morning at 11am.

Group description:	All levels of experience welcome. A typical meeting agenda includes: – Macro Environment – Trades: Members review existing positions and identify securities with promising TA entry patterns or setups and with suitable risk/reward. Any security, long, short, futures, options may be considered. The convener takes actual positions in trades and maintains his own detailed ledger, accurately measuring performance of individual securities and cumulative activity. Members are notified by e-mail prior to the entries or exits that are decided upon. Following each meeting an updated copy of the ledger is circulated together with the next meeting agenda. Members may wish to maintain similar ledgers of their own but there is no obligation to do so. – Technical Analysis: Techniques and systems used in trades. Members can request discussion of particular aspects of TA.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Online via Zoom
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	The first Tuesday of every month from 7 to 9pm

Group description:	Open to all investors / people with an interest in investing. Typical meeting will involve members talking about recent purchases, successes, failures and possible future purchases. Also with occasional visiting speakers or members making presentations on a topic of interest.
Meeting Type/Venue:	We aim to meet on the last Tuesday of each month in a private room at a pub in Playhatch. Start time 7pm with members encouraged to meet up around 6pm for a bite to eat / drink before hand, if their diaries allow.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	7pm on the last Tuesday of the month. Meetings likely to last about two hours but with informal ‘overspill’ before / after.

Lifting the lid on the FRC – An Event for Retail Shareholders

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