Impairment Testing Tops Problems in UK Audits, Watchdog Finds

The biggest problem with UK audits is over checking how companies have written down the value of long-term assets such as investments and intangibles, the country’s accounting watchdog said.

A review of audit inspection results at the 12 largest UK firms in fiscal years 2024 and 2025 found that the most common flaws uncovered were over impairment of non-current assets, the Financial Reporting Council said. Provisioning was the second most prevalent problem area, including provisioning against banks’ expected credit losses.

The FRC’s executive director of supervision, Anthony Barrett, said in a statement that the report was designed to help companies ...