Accounting and Financial Reporting: In relation to the EC Proposals on the Accounting Directive of 25 October 2011, and following the final report of the European Parliament Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) of 25 September 2012, and the Presidency compromise text of the Council of 19 June 2012, FEE issued a Policy Statement on the main issues. FEE wishes to further inform the debate and help close the gap between the differences of views in the European Parliament and the Council. FEE considers that those involved in the decision should be in a position to make the best choice for Europe at what is a critical moment for the European economy and the internal market. View

 

IFRS: FEE has issued its comment letter, view, on the IASB Review Draft of forthcoming IFRS on general hedge accounting, view, highlighting that more could have been done in order to design a principle based hedge accounting standard that would avoid undue complexity and many detailed rules.

 

Tax: The Economic and Financial Affairs Council in its meeting on 4 December 2012 endorsed reports regarding tax issues, tax policy coordination and the code of conduct on business taxation. View

 

The European Commission has published "The 2013 Annual Growth Survey: Towards fair and competitive tax systems" view, proposing 5 key objectives which Member States should pursue for growth-friendly tax reforms and urging Member States to focus on increasing both the competitiveness and fairness of their tax systems.

 

Financial Transaction Tax: The European Parliament Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) has recommended that the European Parliament provides its consent on the European Commission proposal for a Council decision authorising enhanced cooperation in the area of financial transaction tax (FTT). View The debate and vote in the European Parliament plenary are scheduled for 11 and 12 December 2012. However, the Irish Presidency has not included FTT in its priorities.

 

VAT: FEE submitted its comments, view, to the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) Committee on the “Proposal for a COUNCIL DIRECTIVE amending Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of value added tax as regards a quick reaction mechanism against VAT fraud”. View  The OECD has published its annual report on Consumption Tax Trends 2012. View  The European Commission has published an updated version of VAT committee guidelines. View

 

Public Sector: The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) welcomed the recent release of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) paper, Fiscal Transparency, Accountability, and Risk, view, and its support for International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSASs).

 

IFAC: The Professional Accountants in Business (PAIB) Committee of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), has released for comment proposed International Good Practice Guidance (IGPG), Project and Investment Appraisal for Sustainable Value Creation. View

 

Fight against fraud and corruption: The European Councilapproved a political agreement on a reform of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) aimed at strengthening OLAF's capacity to fight against fraud, corruption and any other illegal activity affecting the financial interests of the EU. View

 

 

Unleashing entrepreneurial potential in Europe, 22 January 2013: UEAPME and ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) organise a roundtable aiming to discuss and exchange best practices on how to identify and remove key obstacles to entrepreneurial activities, support entrepreneurs in starting up businesses and help them to face challenges. View

 

Save the date: FEE Roundtable – “How to improve the functioning of Audit Committees further?”, Brussels, Tuesday 5 February 2013: This high level conference will bring European decision makers and relevant stakeholders including audit committee members, auditors, investors and regulators together to discuss further improvements of the functioning of audit committees. Stimulating closer cooperation throughout the audit engagement, especially the exchange of high quality information between audit committees and the external auditor, will be of great benefit to the company and to the external auditor. Further information and the detailed programme will be made available in due course. View

 

Access to finance for SMEs, 8 March 2013, Brussels: The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), the International Confederation of Popular Banks (CIBP), the European Association of Co-operative Banks and UEAPME will be organising a conference on "Access to finance for SMEs" in Brussels on 08 March 2013 view. The aim of the conference is to bring to the forefront issues related to the financing of firms and to explore various institutional, legal and financial issues that affect SMEs creation and development.

 

Global Conference on Sustainability and Reporting, 22-24 May 2013, Amsterdam: Leaders and practitioners from business, finance, accountancy, consultancy, civil society, government, labour and academia will have the possibility to discuss the key challenges and opportunities on the path to a more sustainable future. For further details please visit the conference website. View