The FRC has also restructured the document to improve navigation, usability and functionality for report preparers. Credit: T. Schneider/Shutterstock.com.
The UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has released revised guidance to support entities that prepare strategic reports under company law.
The guidance is intended to help companies meet their reporting requirements in a way the FRC says is “practical” and “proportionate”, while supporting better-quality corporate reporting.
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Strategic reports are aimed at shareholders and other primary users of annual reports.
They are expected to present a clear and connected account of a business, using the flexibility within the regulatory framework to explain performance, position and future prospects.
The revised guidance reflects recent legislative and regulatory changes including the UK Corporate Governance Code 2024, updates to directors’ report disclosure requirements, and evolving practice in sustainability-related and broader corporate reporting.
The FRC has also restructured the document to improve navigation, usability and functionality for report preparers.
Alongside the main guidance, the FRC has issued updated Scoping Tables.
These tables are intended to help entities comply with the Companies Act 2006 disclosure requirements for the strategic report, the directors’ report, and the energy and carbon report.
FRC Regulatory Standards executive director Mark Babington said: “High-quality strategic reports enable users to understand not just where the business stands today but where it is headed, and its future prospects.
“These updates support UK corporate reporting by giving companies clear guidance on how to present a concise and genuinely informative view of their performance, risks and opportunities.
“By sharpening its structure and updating it to reflect developments in corporate reporting, the revised guidance supports preparers in delivering better reporting that serves shareholders and other primary users of corporate reporting.”
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