FCOs

FCOs is an acronym that can refer to several terms depending on context. The most widely recognized meaning is the United Kingdom's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), a government department responsible for foreign policy, diplomacy, and Commonwealth relations. In 2020, the FCO merged with the Department for International Development to form the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). Because of that reform, modern institutional references often use FCDO rather than FCO, but older documents and casual references may still use FCO or FCOs to denote the offices and staff of the department. The plural FCOs can thus refer to multiple offices or to the historical institution as a whole.

Beyond government use, FCO is also used as an acronym in other organizations to denote specific roles or offices. Examples include Finance and Control Officer or Financial Control Officer, used as job titles or department names responsible for financial governance. These uses are not standardized and vary by organization.

When encountering the term FCOs, readers should determine the intended meaning from context, looking for indicators such as whether the text discusses diplomacy and international relations, or finance and governance. See also FCDO and related terms.