08 April 2014

監査市場改革に関する欧州議会決議へのコメント：欧州委員会ミシェル・バルニエ委員（域内市場・サービス担当）、ACCA（英国勅許公認会計士協会）、FEE（欧州会計士連盟）、欧州緑の党

Internal Market and Services Commissioner Michel Barnier said: 

"Even though some of the measures adopted are not as ambitious as in the Commission’s proposals, I am very satisfied with the outcome. The spirit of the reform is intact, and it will have a major impact for the broad community of stakeholders that rely on the quality of statutory audits. Landmark measures include the strengthening of the independence of statutory auditors, making the audit report more informative, and improving audit supervision throughout the Union. In addition, stricter requirements will apply to the statutory audit of public-interest entities, such as listed companies, credit institutions, and insurance undertakings. These new measures will reduce risks of excessive familiarity between statutory auditors and their clients, encourage fresh thinking, and limit conflicts of interest."

Press release

FAQ on the reform of the EU Statutory Audit Market

ACCA

Sue Almond, external affairs director at ACCA, said: "ACCA congratulates the effort to increase audit quality and re-establish investor confidence in financial information. The long-running EU audit debate has resulted in a highly complex legislative package that will have far-reaching consequences in improving transparency and accountability.

"The final position is a balanced compromise that will enhance the functioning of the single market and stimulate economic growth. Promoting auditors’ independence, objectivity and healthy competition is a pivotal element in restoring public trust in the audit, and in the auditing profession. ACCA is pleased with the adoption of high-quality global standards, including ISAs, and welcomes the concept as a way to enhance value from the audit.

We support increased transparency by the Audit Committee of its policy for audit tendering and the rationale for change. We believe that the Audit Committee is best placed to determine the most appropriate provider to deliver specific non-audit services, assess the independence of an auditor and to make appropriate recommendations."

Press release

FEE

FEE welcomes the adoption of ISAs as these are the only set of globally recognised auditing standards; this measure is therefore instrumental to sustaining audit quality. In addition, the stronger role of audit committees will improve corporate governance and the independence of the audit process.

"The debate has demonstrated that stakeholders value the information and insight obtained from auditors. The European accountancy profession is committed to reinforcing public confidence in the quality of audited information", said André Kilesse, President of FEE.

FEE Chief Executive Olivier Boutellis-Taft notes: "Many aspects of the legislation will be complicated to implement in practice. The significant number of Member State options hinders the internal market and the creation of a truly international playing field. The reform raises a number of questions that we are committed to help solving. It is time that the whole profession join forces with investors, business and regulators to this end."

Moving forward, FEE aims to contribute to enhancing consistency and aligning application across Member States to the largest extent possible, in particular regarding the provision of non-audit services and mandatory audit firm rotation, both of which require a consistent interpretation and approach.

Press release

ALDE

Alexandra Thein who was the ALDE Group's representative in the negotiations in the legal affairs committee, says:

"After long and intense negotiations with Council and Commission we were able to agree on a compromise, which was adopted by the committee with a handsome majority of all parties except – unfortunately - for the Socialists and the Greens."

Further to the rotation requirement, a so-called "black list of prohibited services" is to be created. These services would be those which could cause a conflict of interest with independent auditing. They include in particular the area of tax advice and business consulting. A cap on non-audit services at 70 per cent is arbitrary but harmless as at the same time the strong black list was established. The transitional periods are cascaded from 6 to 9 years, depending on the length of the audit engagement with a particular company. The newly created Committee of European Auditing Oversight Bodies (CEAOB) within ESMA will have European oversight and coordination.

"The negative reactions of the big companies made it very clear that we are on the right track here in the interest of SMEs. I'm glad we could find a balanced agreement with a sense of proportion for both sides. Better audit quality will contribute to the orderly functioning of markets by enhancing the integrity and efficiency of financial statements and will lead to more transparency in this sector which will reinforce investors' confidence".

Press release

Green/EFA

The Greens hit out at the outcome, which will fail to tackle conflicts of interest in the audit sector and will fail to tackle the dominant position of the 'big four' audit firms. After the vote, Green legal affairs spokesperson Eva Lichtenberger said:

"This reform should have been used to address the major flaws of the audit sector, which played such a central role in the financial crisis, but unfortunately it will be a major missed opportunity. Centre-right and liberal MEPs have caved to industry lobbying and defended the interests of 'big four' audit oligopoly. The Commission's original proposal was already tame but this final outcome is even weaker. The result will fail to ensure these rules tackle the dominant position of the 'big four', which undermine the audit market."

Green economic and financial policy spokesman Sven Giegold added:

"The blatant conflicts of interest in the sector are not solved. As in the past, an audit firm providing services of any kind for a company will still be able to audit its own work. This essentially legitimises the aggressive tax minimisation strategies implemented for companies, which cost states trillions of euros. This conflict of interest will prevent errors being detected in time and risks from being contained.

"The audit oligopoly is now employed by the ECB to verify the balance sheets of credit institutions, which they themselves have been audited. The only one-year cooling-off period to avoid conflicts of interest clearly underlines why this audit oligopoly must be broken up. The European Commission must now use its competition competences to intervene to break up the 'big four'."

Press release