FEE President: FEE held its General Assembly where the leaders of the European accountancy profession appointed André Kilesse as President and Petr Kriz as Deputy-President for a two-year term. View

 

FEE 25th anniversary: FEE's 25th anniversary: On 11 December 2012, FEE celebrated a quarter of a century of hard work by the accountancy profession and its European Federation for a more efficient, transparent, and sustainable European economy. Providing thought-leadership, informing public policy and regulatory discussions and promoting the public interest was the driver of FEE in all its areas of activity, including of course audit policy, but also financial reporting, integrated reporting, Small and Medium-sized Practices (SMPs), Small and Medium-sized Entities (SMEs), ethics, taxation, sustainability, corporate governance, anti-money laundering and public sector. This was achieved by building on the expertise and practical experience of more than 700.000 professional accountants from our Member Bodies who work in different capacities across Europe, in small and larger accountancy firms or as sole practitioners, in business, SMEs and large enterprises and in the public sector. FEE thanks all of them for their contributions over these 25 years and very much looks forward to continue working with them in the future. A dedicated website will be launched soon.

 

EU Council: The Irish EU Presidency of the first semester of 2013 has announced the launch of its dedicated website, view, and a short summary of the Presidency programme including the full range of policy priorities across all formations of the EU Council. View The full programme of the Irish Presidency will be presented in early January 2013.

 

Tax issues: The European Parliament (EP) has approved on 12 December 2012, view, the European Commission proposal for a Council decision authorising enhanced cooperation in the area of financial transaction tax, view, as recommended by the EP Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) Committee. View The Council will have to decide; Commissioner Šemeta urged the EU Finance Ministers to set this matter as a top priority in the new year. View

 

The EP Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) has issued amendments to the Draft Report on the proposal of Rapporteur Ildikó Gáll-Pelcz for a common system of value added tax, as regards the treatment of vouchers. View

 

On 18 December, the European Commission adopted the final proposal in a package of measures to make the taxation of telecommunications, broadcasting and electronic services fairer and more business friendly as of 1st January 2015. View

 

New EU tax rules enter into force from 1 January 2013: VAT electronic invoicing and cash accounting option for small businesses. View For a clear understanding of the main VAT invoicing rule changes to be implemented as from 1 January 2013 a set of Explanatory Notes has been issued 21 languages. View

 

Corporate Governance: The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), has issued Policy Position Paper 7, Effective Governance, Risk Management, and Internal Control, to highlight good practice and the role of professional accountants in business. View

 

SMPs: The Small and Medium Practices (SMP) Committee of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) released the third edition of its Guide to Practice Management for Small- and Medium-Sized Practices. View It is comprised of eight stand alone modules on a broad range of topics to help practitioners effectively market, manage, and grow their accounting practices.