Auditing: FEE has released its comment letters on the IAASB Invitation to Comment on “Improving the Auditor’s Report”, view, and on the Canadian Public Accountability Board’s (CPAB) Discussion Paper “Enhancing audit quality: Canadian perspectives – The Auditor Reporting Model”. View FEE has also submitted its comments to the International Valuation Standards Council (IVSC) on the Exposure Draft on the Role of the Professional Valuer in the Audit Process. View

 

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): FEE has commented to the European Parliament regarding the European Commission’s Communication on a renewed EU strategy 2011-14 for CSR. FEE sees this Communication as a positive initiative in further progressing with CSR in Europe. The Parliament has an important leadership role to play in this field to ensure that the ambitions are set at the right level and that proper scrutiny is exercised. View

 

Ethics: FEE has issued its comments on the International Accounting Education Standards Board’s (IESBA) Exposure Draft on Proposed Change to the Definition of “Those Charged with Governance”, view, welcoming the proposed alignment with the definition in ISA 260.

 

Education: FEE has submitted its comments to the International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB) on the Exposure Draft on the Proposed IES 4 (Revised) Initial Professional Development – Professional Values, Ethics and Attitudes, view, suggesting some amendments.

 

MIFID: The Cyprus EU Presidency has submitted a new compromise on the proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on markets in financial instruments repealing Directive 2004/39/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council. View

 

European Parliament calls for more support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): The EU should help SMEs to develop efficient internationalisation strategies to allow them to seize opportunities in the global market. This is what Austrian Christian Democrat Paul Rübig is calling for in his report on SMEs competitiveness and business opportunities. The report has already been adopted in committee and will be soon debated in plenary. View

 

Tax: The European Commission in 2011 proposed a directive aimed at introducing an EU-wide Financial Transaction Tax (FTT), view, but a Council discussion on 22 June 2012 revealed insufficient support for the proposal. View. The state of play of the proposed directive on FTT was discussed at the Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN) Council meeting on 9 October 2012 where the Council was informed that 11 Member States had either already submitted requests to the Commission for a proposal to introduce a financial transaction tax via enhanced cooperation (Belgium, Germany, Greece, France, Austria, Portugal and Slovenia), or were planning to do so shortly (Estonia, Spain, Italy and Slovakia). View. Commissioner Semeta welcomed this positive signal and committed to do everything possible to deliver a draft Decision to the ECOFIN on 13 November 2012 in order to facilitate very quick progress on this. View. The European Parliament generally welcomes the plan to press ahead. View

 

VAT: The European Commission launched on 8 October 2012 a public consultation for the review of the existing legislation on VAT reduced rates. View. This consultation is part of an assessment process and is not proposing the abolition or introduction of any reduced VAT rate at this stage. The deadline for responses is 4 January 2013 and the results of the public consultation will feed into the preparation of new proposals on VAT rates, which the Commission will present next year.

 

Fight against fraud: Council and Parliament agreed on a reform of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), aiming to ensure greater efficiency and clearer accountability. The reform is also a step in preparing the ground for a European Public Prosecutors Office (EPPO), which the Commission intends to propose next year. View