In this Schedule—

• “appropriate audit authority” means—

  1. a

     the Secretary of State, or

  2. b

     if the Secretary of State has delegated functions under section 1252 of the Companies Act 2006 F5 to a body whose functions include receiving the equivalent notice under section 522 F6 or 523 F7 of that Act, that body;

• F12“audit committee” means a body which performs—

  1. (a)

     the functions referred to in—

     1. (i)

        rule 7.1.3 of the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules sourcebook made by the Financial Conduct Authority under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000; or

     2. (ii)

        rule 2.4 of the Audit Committee Part of the Rulebook made by the Prudential Regulation Authority under that Act; or

  2. (b)

     equivalent functions;

• “Audit Regulation” means Regulation 537/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council on specific requirements regarding statutory audit of public interest entities and repealing Commission Decision 2005/989/EC; and

• “competent authority” means the Financial Reporting Council Limited F8.

For the purposes of the definition of “audit committee”, references to rules made by the Prudential Regulation Authority or the Financial Conduct Authority are to those rules as they have effect on IP completion day.

For the purposes of this Schedule, a person is auditor of a building society in respect of a financial year if the auditor is required to report on the accounts of the society for that financial year.