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FPPP post-mortems15 October 2026

Where the procedures failed, and what would have caught it

A casebook, not a news feed. Each entry takes a case where a regulator, a court or the company itself has said that financial position and prospects procedures fell short, and names the criterion in the pack whose evidence test addresses it.

Archived edition — a finding may have been appealed or overturned since. Read the current one

The takeaway

The week's fetched items produced one eligible case and it concerns audit work, not FPPP procedures: the FRC's settled sanction against Deloitte LLP.

  • The FRC said it issued a Final Settlement Decision Notice under the Audit Enforcement Procedure imposing sanctions against Deloitte LLP.
  • The FRC said its separate investigation into Deloitte's audit of Joules Group plc has closed and did not concern any other person or entity.
  • No fetched item this week contained an FCA final notice, FRC finding or company statement that a listed or recently-listed company's financial position and prospects procedures failed.

Cases published 8 to 15 October 2026 · mapped to the criteria that address them

This edition looks for cases where a regulator, a court or the company itself has stated that financial position and prospects procedures, or the reporting that depends on them, fell short. The week's fetched material was dominated by routine trading updates, annual report postings and FCA policy consultations. One FRC sanction concerning audit work falls within the feed's scope, and it is covered below; no FCA final notice, FRC finding or company announcement in the fetched items stated that a listed or recently-listed company's FPPP procedures themselves failed.

Searched the FCA news and publications feeds, the FRC news feed and the Investegate RNS announcements for the period and for older uncovered cases. The FCA items concerned insider dealing arrests, a fraud plea, motor finance litigation timing, an ombudsman chair appointment, corporate finance supervision, long-term asset fund rules, Market Watch 86, mortgage loan-to-income guidance, benchmark administrator governance, listings data and illiquid fund redemption terms. The RNS items were trading updates, annual report and AGM postings, a facility amendment, a U.S. ITC statement and two suspensions: Beowulf Mining plc asked for suspension of its AIM trading citing significant uncertainty over financing, and no authority has stated that its FPPP procedures failed, so the case is not eligible under the feed's rules. Nothing else found this week met the threshold.

1. Audit work that did not meet the required standard

The Financial Reporting Council's Executive Counsel issued a Final Settlement Decision Notice under the Audit Enforcement Procedure and imposed sanctions against Deloitte LLP, the FRC said (fetched item 14). The FRC's press notice describes the outcome as a settlement reached under that procedure. The FRC also announced, on the same day, the closure of a separate investigation into the audit of Joules Group plc by Deloitte LLP, stating that the investigation did not relate to any persons or entities other than the relevant statutory auditor or audit firm (fetched item 15). The fetched summaries do not set out the findings of fact, the amount of any sanction, or the years and entities to which the settled case relates, and nothing here should be read as a statement about those matters. What the FRC has stated is that a settlement decision notice was issued and sanctions imposed; the detail sits in the notice itself, which a reader should consult before drawing any conclusion.

What would have caught it: A sponsor or reporting accountant's own review of the audit file before the working capital and prospects work is signed off: if the audit evidence supporting the historical numbers is thin, the same evidence base cannot be relied on for the forecast.

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Sources

It was found in their procedures. Is it open in yours?

Every case above names the criteria it touches. The free scan walks 15 of the 73 across all nine FPPP areas, checks your answers against each other, and tells you where they contradict. It runs entirely in your browser — nothing is sent anywhere, and nothing is stored.

Run the free scan →Read all 73 criteria

Published Thursdays. This is a casebook rather than a news feed: an older case that has not been covered is as welcome as a recent one. Compiled from public regulatory notices, court judgments and companies’ own announcements, and cited to them. It is not legal advice, not investment advice, and not a comment on any company’s prospects or securities.