Regnskapsdirektivet

Ansvarlig departement: Justis- og beredskapsdepartementet

Sakstype: Direktiv

Behandlende organ: Europaparlamentet og Rådet: behandler nye forslag

Saksområde: Selskapsrett (EØS-avtalens vedlegg 22)

BAKGRUNN (fra kommisjonsforslaget, engelsk utgave)

The Accounting Directives [1] (hereafter the "Directives") deal with the annual and consolidated financial statements of limited liability companies in Europe.

There are a number of key objectives in the current Review:

(1) The reduction of administrative burden/simplification targeting mainly small companies.

(2) To increase the clarity and comparability of financial statements targeting the company categories for which these considerations are important due to a more vigorous cross-border activity and a larger number of external stakeholders.

(3) The protection of essential user needs aiming at retaining necessary accounting information for users.

(4) The increased transparency on payments made to governments by the extractive industry and loggers of primary forests.

Consultations have shown that stakeholders are overall broadly content with the current framework which has generally functioned well over the years. Those stakeholders include inter alia preparers and users of financial statements, and public authorities. However they do see room for simplification, especially to benefit the smallest companies. During the past 30 years, amendments to the Directives have added many requirements, such as new disclosures and valuation rules, including detailed provisions on fair value accounting. Less attention has been paid to considering whether existing requirements could be simplified or removed. Whilst every amendment may have been justified in its own right, these additions have tended to disregard the comparability and usefulness of the financial statements, increased reporting requirements and the number of Member State options, and have ultimately led to increased complexity and regulatory burden for all companies. This increased burden bears down primarily on smaller companies.

Stakeholders have also pointed to the need to increase the clarity and comparability of financial statements, especially for larger companies which tend to undertake more extensive cross-border operations.

The raison d'être for the Directives is to establish the requirement for limited liability companies to prepare financial statements and set minimum requirements in order to improve the EU-wide comparability of financial statements. This, in turn, should lead to a better functioning of the Single Market and, more concretely, an increased access to finance, reductions in the cost of capital and increased levels of cross-border trade, merger and acquisition activity. Overall, the proposal contributes to improving Europe's competitiveness through establishing a regulatory environment conducive to job-rich growth.

The proposal complements the proposal for a Directive of 2009 [2] on the financial statements of micro-entities, which is currently still being negotiated by the EU co-legislators. Given that the Council and the Parliament have now both agreed to the principle of a micro entity regime, the current proposal does not contain any new policy proposal regarding micro companies as assessed in the accompanying Impact Assessment. The European Commission is willing to consider, together with the EU co-legislators, how best to integrate into the current proposal the final inter-institutional agreement on the Directive of 2009.

This proposal supports the Commission's approach on companies outlined in a number of instances. The Europe 2020 Strategy [3] aims to make the EU a smarter, more sustainable and inclusive economy. The Single Market Act [4] aims to simplify life for SMEs, which make up more than 99% of Europe's businesses, and to improve these companies' access to finance.

The Small Business Act (SBA) recognises the need to consider distinct needs for the SME group as well as to have segments within that group. It supports a "think small first" approach. The proposal also forms part of the Commission's simplification rolling programme and administrative burden reduction initiatives. As such, it delivers on the commitment made by the Commission to review its acquis to ensure the relevance, effectiveness and proportionality of the legislation in place, as well as to reduce administrative burdens by simplifying the regulatory environment [5].

The proposal repeals the current Accounting Directives, replacing them and their subsequent amendments with a single new Directive.

1 Fourth Council Directive of 25 July 1978 based on Article 54 (3) (g) of the Treaty on the annual accounts of certain types of companies (78/660/EEC). Seventh Council Directive of 13 June 1983 based on the Article 54 (3) (g) of the Treaty on consolidated accounts (83/349/EEC).

2 Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Directive 78/660/EEC on the annual accounts of certain types of companies as regards micro-entities (Text with EEA relevance) {SEC(2009) 206} {SEC(2009) 207} COM/2009/0083 final - COD 2009/0035, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52009PC0083:...

3 http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/index_en.htm

4 The review of the Accounting Directives is flagged in section 2.11of the Communication of April 2011 from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, The European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: “Single Market Act – Twelve levers to boost growth and strengthen confidence, 'Working together to create new growth'”, available at http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/smact/docs/20110413-communication_en...
5 http://ec.europa.eu/governance/better_regulation/key_docs_en.htm#_simpli...