Issue n° 6 - 28 June 2013
 

While mandatory auditor rotation is still debated in Europe, it is now banned in the United States. Boards of directors, management and shareholders should ultimately make the decision about which accounting firms should audit a company's financial statements, said the U.S. House Financial Services Committee and approved a bill that prohibits mandatory rotation of auditors. more...

 

An exciting opportunity in the heart of Europe! We are looking for 2 experienced and enthusiastic IFRS/Audit Experts and 2 interns to join our team. more...

 

 

Following the Competitiveness Council on 29 May 2013 on certain aspects of the Audit Policy Reform, the subject is now debated in the Council’s Company Law Working Group. The Lithuanian Presidency, who will take over on 1 July 2013, will have to take the matter a step forward.
 

On 12 June 2013, the European Parliament in plenary adopted with a large majority the Accounting Directive, view, and the Transparency Directive. View The Accounting Directive has already been adopted by the Council on 20 June 2013 and will take effect after publication in the Official Journal. Member States will then have two years to implement the Directive. The Transparency Directive still needs to be formally adopted by the Council.
 

The review of the governance of EU bodies in the field of financial reporting and accounting - the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) and the Accounting Regulatory Committee (ARC) - is still in the fact finding stage. Wider consultation is expected in September 2013. FEE will contribute.
 

The proposed regulation on the European Union’s programme to support specific activities in the field of financial reporting and auditing for the period of 2014-2020 is in the legislative process, currently discussed in the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON), who seems to be critical about the EU funding of the IFRS Foundation, EFRAG and the PIOB. more... It is regrettable, that such public interest activities do not gather more support.

 

The European Commission’s proposed Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive makes its way in the legislative process. The European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) has already issued its draft opinion, taking into account a number of comments from FEE. more... It appears that the proposed Directive could be adopted by end of the year.

 

In order to further inform the debate, FEE and Transparency International jointly organised a Briefing for Members of the European Parliament and Permanent Representations on 25 June 2013.
 

The European Parliament’s Special Committee on organised crime, corruption and money laundering (CRIM) is discussing its final report on recommendations on action and initiatives to be taken in the areas of organised crime, corruption and money laundering, addressing a number of potential measures on EU and national level. more...

 

Advancing global trade, fighting tax evasion and tax avoidance, and increasing transparency were the main themes at the 39th G8 summit held in Lough Erne (UK) on 17 and 18 June 2013. more... For this occasion, the OECD had prepared the report “A Step Change in Tax Transparency", outlining four concrete steps needed to put in place a global, secure and cost effective model of automatic exchange of information. more...

 

FEE is a member of the European Commission’s platform for tax good governance, which is made up of a group of experts from Member State authorities, businesses, tax professionals and civil society. Their role is to discuss, exchange expertise and assist the Commission in the selection and preparation of appropriate measures to progress in the field of tax havens, aggressive tax planning and double (non)-taxation. more... FEE CEO Olivier Boutellis-Taft participated on behalf of FEE in the first meeting on 10 June 2013.
 

Further to the European Commission’s proposed amendment to the Directive on administrative cooperation in the field of direct taxation, which would extend the scope for mandatory automatic exchange of information, more..., the Economic and Financial Affairs Council held a brief exchange of views and called on the working group to start technical work. more...

 

The Council has reached political agreement on a package of measures aimed at combating VAT fraud more effectively: one aimed at enabling immediate measures to be taken in cases of sudden and massive VAT fraud ("quick reaction mechanism") and the other allowing member states to implement, on an optional and temporary basis, a reversal of liability for the payment of VAT on the supply of certain goods and services ("reverse charge mechanism"). more...

 

The European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee adopted its draft report on implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of financial transaction tax, proposing a number of amendments. more... The vote in plenary is scheduled for 3 July 2013.

 

The OECD invites public comments on a discussion draft on the tax treaty treatment of various payments that may be made following the termination of an employment. more... Deadline 13 September 2013.

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

FEE’s second SMP Forum took place on 26 June 2013, bringing together practitioners from 15 countries to exchange views on EU and International developments, provide stakeholder input about the future of audit and develop communication and contact structures.
 

The European Commission has launched a public consultation on “Single-member limited liability companies”. SMEs should provide information and views about cross-border activities and whether harmonisation of law could help increasing it. Deadline 15 September 2013. more...

 

Acces to Finance: Launched last month, the new single portal on EU finance provides easy, complete and up-to-date information on how entrepreneurs and SMEs can access over €100 billion of EU financing from various 2007-2013 programmes. It now also includes EU Structural Funds. more...

 

Modernised recognition of professional qualifications close to final

The European Parliament and the Council have reached an agreement on the modernisation of the Professional Qualifications Directive, including easier recognition, traineeships, common training frameworks and knowledge of languages. The provisionally-agreed text still needs be formally approved by the Council Committee of Permanent Representatives and Parliament's Internal Market Committee (IMCO). IMCO will probably vote on the deal on 9 July 2013, paving the way for a plenary vote in October. more...

 

 

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) has released its 2012 Annual Report, Responding to the Needs of An Interconnected World, highlighting its commitment to strengthen the public’s confidence in the global auditing and assurance profession. more...

 

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) published its 2013 Handbook of International Public Sector Accounting Pronouncements, including the official text of all 32 accrual-based IPSAS, the comprehensive cash-based IPSAS, and other publications issued by the IPSASB. more...

 

To address issues of the IPSASB oversight, a new Review Group has been created. It is chaired by the IMF, the World Bank and the OECD and includes members from the Financial Stability Board (FSB), IOSCO and INTOSAI as well as some observers including the IPSASB, IFAC and the EU. The Review Group is in the process of preparing a consultation paper to be issued by the end of June 2013 with plans to issue final recommendations in the spring of 2014.
 

IFAC and the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) issued for public comment a Consultation Draft for an International Framework on governance in the public sector. This consultation is open until 17 September 2013. more...

 

 

In its meeting on 18 June 2013, the FEE Board discussed staff matters and resources, initial views on the EFRAG and ARC governance review, next steps in the audit policy debate, FEE events (see upcoming events) and approved a number of comment letters (see recent FEE publications).
 

The FEE Members’ Assembly on 19 June 2013 debated the profession’s strategy regarding standard setting, next steps for the strategic review of FEE and FEE membership matters.

 

In June 2013, the Sustainability Group contributed to the discussion about Integrated Reporting and the Corporate Reporting Policy Group proceeded to develop views on the EFRAG and ARC governance review.