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According to its founding regulation (European Regulation no 1095/2010), ESMA shall act in the field of financial reporting, to ensure the effective and consistent application of European Securities and Markets legislation. In order to fulfil these responsibilities, ESMA organises the European Enforcers Coordination Sessions (EECS), a forum gathering 38 European enforcers from 30 countries in the European Economic Area (EEA).
European enforcers monitor and review financial statements published by issuers with securities traded on a regulated market who prepare their financial statements in accordance with IFRS and consider whether they comply with IFRS and other applicable reporting requirements, including relevant national law.
Through the EECS, European enforcers are able to share and compare their practical experiences on the enforcement of IFRS financial information provided by companies who have, or who are in the process of having, securities admitted to trading on a regulated market in Europe. It provides a forum to discuss enforcement cases before or after decisions are taken by the European enforcers. As a forum of technical experts, this group provides technical advice for the preparation of ESMA statements and/or opinions on accounting matters. In addition, the EECS enables ESMA to review accounting practices applied by European issuers and monitors market developments and changes in those practices.
In taking enforcement decisions, European national enforcers apply their judgement, knowledge and experience to the particular circumstances of the cases that they consider. Relevant factors may include other areas of national law beyond the accounting requirements. Interested parties should therefore consider carefully the individual circumstances when reading the cases. As IFRS are principles based, there can be no one particular way of dealing with numerous situations which may seem similar but in substance are different. Consistent application of IFRS means consistent with the principles and treatments permitted by the standards.
Decisions taken by enforcers do not provide generally applicable interpretations of IFRS; this remains the role of the IFRS Interpretations Committee (IFRS IC).
ESMA has developed a confidential database of enforcement decisions taken by individual European enforcers as a source of information to foster appropriate application of IFRS. Decisions that deal with simple or obvious accounting matters are normally not published, even if they related to material breaches leading to sanctions. The selection criteria are based on the above stated objectives, and accordingly, only decisions providing market participants with useful guidance are published.
This report informs about: