On 25 April 2013, the Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) of the European Parliament voted on the European Commission’s proposed Statutory Audit Directive and Regulation, adopting a number of modifications: Various articles were shifted from the proposed Regulation to the proposed Directive, for example the whole chapter on “performance of the statutory audit”; the definition of Public Interest Entities has been significantly revised; the concept of pure audit firms and the limitation of the provision of non-audit services have been removed, specific requirements for approval of the provision of non-audit services have been added; the duration of the audit engagement shall not exceed 14 years (exceptions are possible under certain conditions), the absolute maximum is 25 years; the rules for the audit report have been largely amended and the article limiting the delegation of tasks to professional bodies has been deleted. FEE is analysing the amendments and their impact. more... 

 

On 9 April 2013, the Irish EU Presidency reached a preliminary agreement with the European Parliament on the proposed Accounting Directive. The compromise text includes amongst others amendments regarding the financial reporting regime and thresholds for small companies, fair value measurement, IFRS for SMEs, the management report and country by country reporting. more... FEE is in the process of analysing the compromise text in the context its previous statements. more... The compromise text is subject to approval of the European Parliament, which is tabled for 10 July 2013.
 

A trilogue on the proposed Transparency Directive will start soon.
 

The European Commission adopted on 16 April 2013 a proposal for a Directive on disclosure of non-financial information. Companies concerned would need to disclose information on policies, risks and results as regards environmental matters, social and employee-related aspects, respect for human rights, anti-corruption and bribery issues, and diversity on the boards of directors. more... FEE welcomes the proposal as a step in the right direction. Increased transparency and performance on environmental and social matters of EU companies can contribute to long-term economic growth and employment. more...
 

The International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) has released its Consultation Draft of the International Integrated Reporting Framework. Comments are welcome until 15 July 2013. The IIRC plans to issue the initial version of the Framework in December 2013 and to update it periodically as Integrated Reporting evolves. more... FEE believes that Integrated Reporting is the most promising development to improve the quality of businesses' and investors' decision-making and help make our economy more sustainable and stable. more...

 

The European Commission launched a Green Paper on the long-term financing of the European economy for public consultation by 25 June 2013. It aims to start a broad debate on how to foster the supply of long-term financing and improve and diversify the system of financial intermediation for long-term investment in Europe. FEE is analysing the paper and plans to contribute. more...

 

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) has released the Exposure Draft “Conceptual Framework for General Purpose Financial Reporting by Public Sector Entities: Presentation in General Purpose Financial Reports” for comments by 15 August 2013. more...

 

The European Commission's proposed Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive is in the legislative process more..., initial discussions on expert level in the Council of the European Union have started on 24 April 2013. more... Further to FEE’s initial views more..., which are shared by other stakeholders, such as Transparency International (TI), a high repute, independent organisation, with whom FEE had a fruitful exchange of views.
 

The fight against tax fraud and tax evasion is the main topic in tax policy. It will be discussed in the forthcoming Council meeting on 22 May 2013; the European Commission is setting up a Platform for Tax Good Governance more...; the governments of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK agreed to develop and pilot multilateral tax information exchange more... and the OECD Secretary General has presented a report to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors that highlights measures to ensure that all taxpayers pay their fair share. more...

Taxation trends in the European Union indicate that labour taxes remain the major source of tax revenue. more...
 

The European Parliament has adopted the proposed VAT Directive as regards the treatment of vouchers with some clarifications. more... It remains open whether an agreement in the Council of the European Union can be reached.
 

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Small and Medium-sized Practices (SMPs)
 

The IFAC SMP Committee has highlighted the benefits of sustainability for SMEs and the related opportunities for SMPs more..., a subject on which FEE has also raised awareness. more...

 

 

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) published an Exposure Draft on Regulatory Deferral Accounts as part of its reactivated Rate-regulated Activities research project for public comment by 4 September 2013. more...

The members of the Accounting Standards Advisory Forum (ASAF), a technical advisory body to the IASB composed of members of the global accounting standard-setting community, met in London for their inaugural meeting on 8 and 9 April 2013. more...

In the context of its International Good Practice Guidance, IFAC has published an Executive Summary of the paper “Evaluating and Improving Internal Control in Organizations”. more...

The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) issued a consultation paper on Principles for Financial Benchmarks for public comments by 16 May 2013 and a consultation report on Regulation of Retail Structured Products for comments by 13 June 2013. It also published a final report on Technological Challenges to Effective Market Surveillance: Issues and Regulatory Tools. more...

    

 

On 16 April 2013, the FEE Board assessed the outcome of the FEE Members’ Assembly held on 26 and 27 March 2013 in Dublin, discussing in particular feedback on a strategic review of FEE and its activities and the related next steps. It also held a strategic exchange of views about potential harmonised European Public Sector Accounting Standards and continued discussions on Correspondent FEE Membership, the future of Corporate Reporting and Audit Policy. Furthermore, it approved several FEE publications which are featured in the section “Recent FEE Publications”.  

 

FEE President André Kilesse and FEE Deputy-President Petr Kriz participated in the Accountancy Profession Strategic Forum organised by ICAEW in cooperation with the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Bulgaria, Sofia, 16 – 17 April 2013.
 

On 11 April 2013, the FEE CEO Olivier Boutellis-Taft spoke on “How to improve the functioning of audit committees further” at the IFAC Forum of Firms in Vienna.
 

In April, the FEE Ethics Working Party and the FEE Capital Markets Working Party held meetings to discuss future activities and the FEE Task Force on Auditor Selection met to proceed with the project.