In January 2026, the UK’s audit regulator issued an unusually candid warning.
The Chief Executive of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), Richard Moriarty, urged government to pass audit reform legislation before the next corporate collapse—rather than waiting for a scandal to force action.
For those involved in Get SAFE cases, this will sound uncomfortably familiar.
Many victims of financial harm only discover audit failures after the damage is done—when assets have vanished, companies have collapsed, or responsibility has become diffused across trustees, advisers, auditors, and regulators.
This article sets out what citizen investigators should learn from this moment—and how to use it.
1. Audit failure is not exceptional — it is expected
When the head of the audit regulator publicly says reform should happen in “peacetime” rather than after disaster, he is acknowledging something profound:
The system already knows where the risks are.
For citizen investigators, this reframes the conversation.
A poor audit is not an extraordinary allegation—it is a known systemic vulnerability.
Get SAFE lesson:
If an audit failed to identify obvious risks, implausible valuations, conflicted relationships, or cash-flow fragility, you are not making an outlandish claim. You are interrogating a risk that regulators themselves expect to materialise.
2. “Signed off” does not mean “fit for purpose”
One of the most common barriers victims encounter is the phrase:
“The accounts were audited.”
This news story exposes why that reassurance is often hollow.
Audits can be procedurally compliant while substantively useless. They may:
- follow standards without challenging assumptions,
- verify form without interrogating reality,
- document numbers without asking whether they make sense.
Get SAFE lesson:
Citizen investigators must look beyond whether an audit was done and ask:
- What did the auditor actually test?
- What risks were acknowledged—and which were ignored?
- Does the audit narrative align with lived outcomes?
If an audit cannot be explained in plain English, that is a red flag—not sophistication.
3. Silence in an audit can be evidence
Moriarty’s comments imply that regulators already recognise warning signs that often go unaddressed until too late.
This matters because many Get SAFE cases share a common feature:
material issues that were never mentioned at all.
Examples include:
- undisclosed related-party transactions,
- unrealistic asset valuations,
- dependency on a single counterparty,
- opaque offshore structures,
- trustee or director conflicts.
Get SAFE lesson:
What an audit fails to mention can be as important as what it includes.
Silence is not neutrality.
It may indicate blind spots, commercial pressure, or systematic under-scrutiny.
4. Systems matter more than individual mistakes
The FRC now says it is focusing less on isolated audit files and more on systems of quality management within audit firms.
This is critical for citizen investigators.
Get SAFE lesson:
Do not treat your case as a one-off. Ask wider questions:
- Has this audit firm been criticised before?
- Does it audit multiple failed or controversial entities?
- Are there patterns of minimal challenge or boiler-plate language?
- Were incentives aligned to retain the client rather than protect stakeholders?
Regulators respond more readily to patterns than to isolated grievances.
5. “Proportionality” must not become an excuse
Moriarty encouraged companies—especially SMEs—to push back against audits that are “over-specced.”
That statement cuts both ways.
Get SAFE lesson:
Proportionality should never justify:
- ignoring obvious risks,
- avoiding difficult questions,
- or declining to follow money flows that later prove decisive.
When auditors argue something was “out of scope” or “not proportionate,” citizen investigators should ask:
- Proportionate to whose risk?
- Beneficial to whom?
- Consistent with the harm that later occurred?
6. Why citizen investigators matter before reform arrives
Audit reform, if it comes, will come after the next scandal.
Justice for victims often follows the same delayed pattern.
Citizen investigators disrupt that cycle.
By:
- building structured evidence dossiers,
- documenting audit blind spots early,
- and refusing to accept procedural reassurance as accountability,
they force uncomfortable questions before narratives harden and responsibility evaporates.
The Get SAFE position
This story does not weaken Get SAFE’s work—it validates it.
- Audit failure is widely acknowledged but poorly confronted.
- Regulatory reform is slow and politically constrained.
- Victims are too often told to wait.
Get SAFE exists to ensure that people do not have to.
Through citizen investigation, AI-supported analysis, and disciplined evidence-building, individuals can surface truths long before institutions are ready to admit them.
Reform may arrive “one scandal too late.”
Citizen investigation doesn’t have to.
Get SAFE (Support After Financial Exploitation) exists to change that.
We’re creating a national lifeline for victims — offering free emotional recovery, life-planning, and justice support through our Fellowship, Witnessing Service, and Citizen Investigator training.
We’re now raising £20,000 to:
Register Get SAFE as a Charity (CIO)
Build our website, CRM, and outreach platform
Fund our first year of free support and recovery programmes
Every £50 donation provides a bursary for one survivor — giving access to the tools, training, and community needed to rebuild life and pursue justice with confidence.
Your contribution doesn’t just fund a project — it fuels a movement.
Support the Crowdfunder today and help us rebuild lives and restore justice.
Join us at: https://www.get-safe.org.uk/
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