Birmingham to become the home of new UK audit regulator

Birmingham is set to house the new audit regulator, which will replace the Financial Reporting Council (FRC).

Four hundred FRC staff are currently based in London – 200 of those will immediately move to Birmingham once the Auditing, Reporting and Governance Authority (Arga) is fully operational, with the rest to follow.

According to the Financial Times, the government is creating Arga in an effort to reform how UK corporate governance and accountancy are overseen.

The announcement is part of plans to move 22,000 civil servants out of the capital by 2030. So far, 7,000 have moved.

Overseen by Lord Martin Callanan, the Business Secretary, Arga is expected to be in place by 2024 at the earliest.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) will oversee Arga and is planning a wider move to the regions with 1,350 civil servants expected to leave London by 2025.

The department has transferred jobs to existing offices in Birmingham, Cardiff and Aberdeen and is opening new premises in Salford, Belfast, Darlington and Edinburgh.

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