14 October 2002

Forum Group Final Report on Reporting Requirements

The Forum Group states that the present financial reporting requirements are neither harmonised across sectors/borders nor closely related to internal reporting systems. There is a multi-layer legal framework, in which regulatory power is shared between the EU-level, national legislation and different national authorities with statutory power. The results are a fragmentation of reporting and costly, decentralised corporate reporting structures that reduce the possibilities of economies of scale.

To promote efficient reporting and to facilitate the introduction of integrated corporate reporting systems, the Forum Group offers a set of recommendations :

Undertake regular top-down examinations of reporting requirements;

Improve transparency, co-ordinate computer systems of authorities, strive for a single contact point and reduce the number of receivers;

Strengthen co-ordination among Member States’ regulators/supervisors in the converged implementation and application of EU-legislation (in particular as regards IAS, Basle II, Solvency II, Financial Conglomerates), with important role to play for the EU-supervisory coordination Committees set up for the different financial sectors in the spirit of the Lamfalussy approach; apply IAS as a common basis of reporting;

Enhance co-ordination among the wider circle of regulators in the areas of accounting, prudential supervision, disclosure, statistics, tax;

Enhance convergence/introduce maximum harmonisation in EU legislation (cross sector, cross country) and enhance the “lead supervisor/co-ordinator” concept;

Recognise internal models more widely as a basis for reporting and establish a consensusbased relationship between authorities and financial institutions.

Synthesis Report
annexes

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