CEPS: Study on the Non-Financial Reporting Directive

23 April 2021

This report provides data analysis as part of the ongoing monitoring of implementation of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD). The study analysed data on more than 17 million companies, gathered survey responses from more than 200 companies and conducted interviews with over 60 stakeholders.

Among the main findings is that there are about 2 000 companies (excluding exempted subsidiaries) in the EU27 that come within the scope of the NFRD. In practice, approximately 10 000 additional companies (excluding exempted subsidiaries) are obliged to prepare nonfinancial statements based on a broader transposition of the Accounting Directive and NFRD into national legislation. A further estimated 9 000 other public interest entities (PIEs) and large non-PIEs report without a legal requirement. The recurring administrative costs for providing non-financial statements under the NFRD are on average EUR 82 000 per year, of which about 40% can be fully attributed to the legal requirements. These costs depend, among other factors, on company size and sector, level of assurance, comprehensiveness and type of reporting. In addition, about two-thirds of the companies surveyed incur assurance costs, which amount to EUR 76 000 per year on average.

This is the final report of the “Study on the Non-Financial Reporting Directive” for the Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA).

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