Weekly Update Regulatory news for FEE Members
Audit: Hilde Blomme, Deputy CEO of the Federation of European Accountants (FEE), spoke at the roundtable "The future of audit: towards more transparency, quality and independence", on 25 September 2012, organised by the ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), in partnership with the ecoDa (the European Confederation of Directors’ Associations). The welcome speech of host and chair, Sajjad Karim, MEP, can be watched here.
Video
PCAOB: In their public meeting today, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) is discussing ways to enhance auditor independence, objectivity and professional skepticism including through mandatory rotation, or term limits, for audit firms.
View
Accounting: On 11 October 2012, EFRAG and the Trustees of the IFRS Foundation held a joint conference to discuss an EU perspective on the move towards global accounting standards, involving a large range of prominent speakers.
View
Integrated Reporting: In recognition of their shared vision for the evolution of corporate reporting, the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and the International Integrated
Reporting Council (IIRC), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote cooperation, coordination, and alignment.
View
Tax: The European Commission has issued two Taxation Papers, No 33: 'The Debt-Equity Tax Bias: consequences and solutions',
view, and No 34: 'Tax reforms in EU Member States - Tax policy challenges for economic growth and fiscal sustainability – 2012 Report.
View
SMEs: On 15 October 2012, the first day of the 2012 European SME week, the European Commission released results of the SME Performance Review 2012 report, together with fact sheets describing SMEs' progress in all EU Members States.
View. An Entrepreneurship action plan — a number of concrete actions aimed at boosting entrepreneurship in the EU — will be also launched later this year. The next meeting of SME envoys, at which they will discuss progress in specific SME policy areas, will take place during the SME assembly on 15-16 November in Cyprus.
Furthermore, the European Commission has published a press release on SMEs in Europe at the crossroads: further policy boost needed to help in recovery,
view, and a Call for Expression of Interest on 31 March 2010 concerning work on indicators and data on access to finance of SMEs and an extension of the European Commission's "Enterprise Finance Index".
View
IFAC SMP Committee Business Advisory Interviews: To help SMPs that are considering building or expanding their professional services offerings, the IFAC SMP Committee has developed a series of videos on how to market and position a business advisory practice, the biggest challenges in building a business advisory practice, and the keys to success.
View
Anti-corruption and anti-money laundering: On 13 October 2012, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) held its second Experts meeting on Corruption, an international platform for exchanging views between Anti-Money Laundering/Countering-Financing of Terrorism and anti-corruption experts.
View The outcomes of this meeting are discussed at the FATF Plenary meeting in Paris, 17-19 October 2012.
The European Parliament’s special committee on organised crime, corruption and money laundering (CRIM) published on 15 October 2012 a working document on Organised Crime.
View This document is intended to serve as a guide for the development of legislation in the field of organised crime, at both EU and Member State levels.
Events
First meeting of the OECD Global Forum on VAT, Paris, France on 7-8 November 2012: The OECD launches its Global Forum on VAT as a unique platform for a worldwide dialogue on the design and operation of VAT, notably addressing issues of double taxation and unintended non taxation. This first meeting of the OECD Global Forum on VAT is aimed at senior tax officials and representatives of international organisations and participation is upon invitation only. Academics and business representatives will also be invited to participate. For more information and contact, please
view.
European outreach event on the post-implementation review of IFRS 8, Frankfurt/Main, Germany on 13 November 2012: EFRAG and the German Accounting Standards Committee Das Deutsche Rechnungslegungs Standards Committee organise a European outreach event on the post-implementation review of IFRS 8 Operating Segments and the discussion paper 'Towards a Disclosure Framework for the Notes'. For detailed information, please
view.
Inheritance Tax Conference, 12 November 2012: The European Commission, together with the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), organises a Conference on "Tackling EU cross-border Inheritance Tax issues" on 12 November 2012.
View This event is a follow-up to the Commission's Recommendation of December 2011, to which FEE has contributed.
View
2012 SME Assembly: Cyprus will host an Assembly on SME issues in Nicosia on 15 and 16 November 2012 bringing together SMEs; business organisations; European, national and regional government; academia and the media to discuss how to help SMEs ‘Go for Growth’.
View