21 May 2020: Financial Reporting Council chair Simon Dingemans is to step down from the accounting watchdog at the end of May, just eight months after taking up the role.

The former Goldman Sachs executive and Glaxosmithkline CFO joined the regulator to oversee its transformation into the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority (ARGA) after the body was heavily criticised by Sir John Kingman in a 2018 review.

An FRC statement said that Dingemans was relinquishing his duties at the end of May due to conflicts between his part-time role and other positions he was keen to embrace.

“As the chair of the FRC is a part-time position, it was agreed as part of his appointment process that Simon Dingemans could take on additional roles, provided they did not conflict with his responsibilities at the FRC. 

“This has not proved possible and so it is with regret that Mr Dingemans has informed the board and the Secretary of State that he intends to step down from the FRC at the end of May. He is expected to return to a more full-time role in the private sector. BEIS will now take forward the appointment of a new FRC chair”, continued the statement.

Commenting on the news Michael Izza, ICAEW Chief Executive, said: “Simon Dingemans and Sir Jon Thompson had made a good start to the job of transforming the FRC into the strong new regulator promised by the Kingman Review. It is absolutely vital that this momentum is maintained, and we expect government to move swiftly to appoint a successor.”

According to City AM, Private Eye published a story that Grenofen Investments, a company Dingemans was director of, was late in filing its accounts. An application to strike the company off signed by Dingemans and dated 1 July 2019 was subsequently filed at Companies House four weeks later on 1 August.

Dingemans’ appointment at the FRC was approved by MPs in the ensuing period, but Grenofen was not listed on his application’s declaration of interests. He told the Telegraph in February that the failure to mention Grenofen was due to slow processing of the strike-off documents.