Weekly update of EU Regulatory news for FEE Members   

 

Accounting for micro-entities: The Legal Affairs Committee approved in second reading its Report on the proposed directive on annual accounts of micro-entities after the compromise reached in the Council of Ministers. This Report still needs to be approved in a plenary session of the European Parliament.  View

 

Less regulatory burden for small businesses: The Commission presented a new approach to ensure that the EU responds better to the needs of small businesses. From now on, the European Commission will seek wherever possible to exempt micro-enterprises from EU legislation or introduce special regimes so as to minimise the regulatory burden on them. In a report to the Council and the European Parliament, the Commission presents a list of initiatives of this kind already taken and to be examined for the future. It announces stronger means to ensure the input of micro-enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to the formulation of new EU initiatives. No further measure is announced concerning accounting and financial reporting. View

 

Draft Q&As on IFRS for SMEs: The SME Implementation Group (SMEIG) published two draft Questions & Answers (Q&As) on the IFRS for Small and Medium sized Entities (SMEs). The questions relate to the applicability of recognition andmeasurement provisions of IFRS 9 and the recycling of cumulative exchange differences on disposal of a subsidiary. Comments are expected before 31 January 2012. View  

 

EIOPA consultation on guidelines for narrative supervisory reporting: EIOPA published a draft proposal for Guidelines on narrative public disclosure and supervisory reporting, as well as on predefined events and processes for reporting and disclosure for comments. The Guidelines on the content of the solvency and financial condition report and the regular supervisory report are aimed at harmonising public disclosure and supervisory reporting by specifying the minimum content of selected sections of the reports, to the extent that further clarification and detail to the delegated acts are necessary. Comments are expected by 20 January 2012. View  

 

IASB and IFAC to enhance co-operation: The two organizations announced the signature of a memorandum of understanding to strengthen their co-operation in developing private and public sector accounting standards. IFAC supports the independent International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB), which is responsible for developing International Public Sector Accounting Standards. The MoU also acknowledges the ongoing working relationship between the IASB and the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB), which is also supported by IFAC. As part of this relationship, the IAASB seeks to advise the IASB on issues surrounding verifiability and auditability of proposed accounting standards. View

 

The EC adopts new proposals on credit rating agencies: The four main goals of the proposed draft Directive and draft Regulation are:    
1.To ensure that financial institutions do not blindly rely only on credit ratings for their investments; 
2.More transparent and more frequent sovereign debt ratings;
3.More diversity and stricter independence of credit rating agencies to eliminate conflicts of interest; and
4.To make CRAs more accountable for the ratings they provide.  View

 

Webinar on Integrated Reporting: The IIRC held a webinar on Integrated Reporting on 15 November. The webinar is now available on demand.  To access the on-demand version click on View

 

Fourth IFAC-SMP Quick Poll Now Open!: Are you a practitioner in a small- or medium-sized (SMP) practice? Then take the SMP Quick Poll. The poll should take only three minutes to complete. IFAC will analyze the results of this poll in a composite 2011 report to be released in 2012. The results of the January, April, and August SMP Quick Polls are available here. Polling will close on 19 December 2011. The poll is now in 7 languages including English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian. We hope that you will help us promote the poll to your member body, its members, colleagues etc.