10 February 2011
New from the Financial Report Council, February 2011.
Publication of Funeral Plans TAS
The BAS published its Specific TAS on Funeral Plans on 10 February 2011. The TAS applies to specified actuarial work concerning funeral plan trusts The TAS will apply to work carried out for aggregate reports completed from 1 October 2011. The BAS also published two other related documents:
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An analysis of responses to the consultation on the exposure draft which includes a version of the TAS showing changes made to the exposure draft.
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A document setting out some of the significant considerations in the development of the TAS which practitioners may find helpful.
This completes the BAS’s initial suite of TASs
Publication of TM1 version 1.4
The BAS published Technical Memorandum TM1: Statutory Money Purchase Illustrations version 1.4 on 8 February 2011.
On 12 November 2010 the Government published regulations which amend some of the requirements for disclosure of information to pension scheme members. The amendments include changes to some of the content of SMPIs – some information no longer has to be provided while other information may be signposted to a website. The new regulations came into effect on 1 December 2010. TM1 (version 1.4) has been amended to include references to these regulations.
The BAS also published a document showing the changes made from TM1 version 1.3.
Following a wide-ranging consultation in 2010, the BAS is intending to publish an exposure draft of a revised version of TM1 later this year.
The BAS decides to withdraw GNs
At its meeting on 7 February 2011, the BAS decided to withdraw a number of GNs when the Pensions TAS comes in to force on 1 April 2011. GN9, GN21, GN26, GN34, GN36 and GN49 will cease to apply from that date.
FRC and FSA extend cooperation and information exchange on audit issues
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) have agreed a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) to enable a greater degree of cooperation and information exchange between the two regulators. The new agreement will deliver a closer working relationship between the FSA and the FRC’s Audit Inspection Unit (AIU) and will enable both organisations to improve their oversight of the audits of authorised firms.
The Auditing Practices Board (APB) issues revised guidance on the audit of insurers and pension funds
The APB has revised Practice Notes PN 20: “The Audit of Insurers in the United Kingdom” and PN 15: ‘The Audit of Occupational Pension Schemes in the United Kingdom (Revised)’ to reflect changes in the legislative and regulatory framework and changes to applicable International Standards on Auditing.
The APB is consulting on revisions to the PN 24 “The Audit of Friendly Societies in the United Kingdom (Revised)”. The consultation period ends on 15 April 2011.
FRC draft plan and levy proposals
As reported in January, the FRC is consulting on its draft plan and levy proposals for 2011/12. The FRC is keen to receive comments on the plan from actuaries and users of their work. The consultation closes on 10 March 2011.
Registration for notification of FRC publications
To receive direct notification of BAS, POB and other FRC events and publications, register at the FRC site.
BAS publications
BAS publications including the TASs and supporting documents can be found at the BAS site.