BETA


2006/2248(INI) Capital market: International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the governance of the IASB

Progress: Procedure completed

RoleCommitteeRapporteurShadows
Lead ECON RADWAN Alexander (icon: PPE-DE PPE-DE)
Committee Opinion JURI LEHNE Klaus-Heiner (icon: PPE-DE PPE-DE)
Lead committee dossier:
Legal Basis:
RoP 54

Events

2008/06/25
   EC - Commission response to text adopted in plenary
Documents
2008/05/28
   EC - Commission response to text adopted in plenary
Documents
2008/04/24
   EP - Results of vote in Parliament
2008/04/24
   EP - Debate in Parliament
2008/04/24
   EP - Decision by Parliament
Details

The European Parliament adopted, by 373 votes to 21 with 13 abstentions, a resolution on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the Governance of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). The own-initiative report was tabled for consideration in plenary by Alexander RADWAN (EPP-ED, DE) on behalf of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. Members are convinced that the aim must be to develop high-quality global accounting standards. In this perspective, they have drawn up the following recommendations:

Transparent, responsible international organisations : Parliament underlines that the IASCF/IASB lack transparency, legitimacy, accountability and are not under the control of any democratically elected parliament or government. MEPs therefore consider that a debate should be launched on the conditions for integrating the IASCF/IASB into the system of international governance e.g. the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Bank. In particular, governance and accountability must be improved through the following measures:

(a) setting up a public oversight body involving all IASCF/ IASB public stakeholders, and setting up a body allowing representative market participants to deliver annually a report on the functioning of international accounting standard setting to the governing bodies of the IASCF/IASB;

(b) such a body could be responsible for selecting and appointing the trustees in a transparent procedure;

(c) guarantee that, in terms of the composition of the IASB, the Standards Advisory Council (SAC) and the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC), the trustees ensure that the appointment procedure is transparent and due account is taken of the interests of various interest groups;

(d) increased involvement of the trustees in supervising the IASB and its work plan;

(e) ensure, in the constitution of the IASCF, that the IASB develops accounting solutions that are not only technically correct but also reflect what is necessary and possible from the point of view of all users and preparers;

(f) impact assessments for all projects, so as to check the costs and benefits of draft texts and, in particular, to highlight the implications for financial stability.

Improvements to accountability of the IASCF/IASB must not create excessive bureaucracy and must ensure that technical issues are not unnecessarily politicised.

In terms of funding, the IASCF/IASB are called upon to examine how the funding system can be amended to ensure that: (1) all user groups are adequately involved in funding; (2) no conflict of interests arises between financers and users and; (3) there is better and easier access to the accounting standards.

It is essential that the Community express itself more coherently to ensure it has maximum influence at all stages of the process of drafting, interpreting and implementing accounting standards. They call on the Commission to put forward a proposal to establish an EU structure constituting a legitimate international partner and guaranteeing uniform interpretation and application of standards.

Members note that there are a variety of problems with the use of IRFS for SME’s. They call on the Commission to arrange a thorough consultation procedure concerning an accounting framework for SMEs in the EU along the lines of ordinary legislative proposals, and to withdraw its commitment to implementing and adopting an IFRS for SMEs, thus preventing parallel application of standards in the EU, for so long as the EU internal process has not been concluded.

Road map for convergence and equivalence: Parliament supports the idea of convergence and equivalence, but emphasises that convergence with certain third-country standards must be based on a prior assessment of the merits and impact of such a change on EU preparers and users of financial statements and especially on SMEs, and calls on the IASB to bear this in mind when proceeding. The outstanding issue concerns the competence of the different jurisdictions applying the IFRS for establishing the definitive interpretation thereof, which entails the risk that conflicting interpretations will result. Only European authorities and courts are competent definitively to interpret an EU-specific IFRS. The Commission must develop a system that will guarantee that the IFRS is interpreted and applied uniformly throughout the European Union.

Documents
2008/04/24
   EP - End of procedure in Parliament
2008/02/05
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
Documents
2008/02/05
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary
Documents
2008/01/29
   EP - Vote in committee
Details

The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs adopted an own-initiative report by Alexander RADWAN (EPP-ED, DE) on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the Governance of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).

Members are convinced that the aim must be to develop high-quality global accounting standards. In this perspective, they have drawn up the following recommendations:

Transparent, responsible international organisations: the report underlines that the IASCF/IASB lack transparency, legitimacy, accountability and are not under the control of any democratically elected parliament or government. MEPs therefore consider that a debate should be launched on the conditions for integrating the IASCF/IASB into the system of international governance e.g. the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Bank. In particular, governance and accountability must be improved through the following measures:

(a) setting up a public oversight body involving all IASCF/ IASB public stakeholders, and setting up a body allowing representative market participants to deliver annually a report on the functioning of international accounting standard setting to the governing bodies of the IASCF/IASB;

(b) such a body could be responsible for selecting and appointing the trustees in a transparent procedure;

(c) guarantee that, in terms of the composition of the IASB, the Standards Advisory Council (SAC) and the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC), the trustees ensure that the appointment procedure is transparent and due account is taken of the interests of various interest groups;

(d) increased involvement of the trustees in supervising the IASB and its work plan;

(e) ensure, in the constitution of the IASCF, that the IASB develops accounting solutions that are not only technically correct but also reflect what is necessary and possible from the point of view of all users and preparers;

(f) impact assessments for all projects, so as to check the costs and benefits of draft texts and, in particular, to highlight the implications for financial stability.

The report emphasises that improvements to accountability and governance of the IASCF/IASB must not create excessive bureaucracy and that the IASB, before adopting a new standard, should carry out impact studies among all interested parties, taking account of regional diversity and market structures.

In terms of funding, the IASCF/IASB are called upon to examine how the funding system can be amended to ensure that: (1) all user groups are adequately involved in funding; (2) no conflict of interests arises between financers and users and; (3) there is better and easier access to the accounting standards.

In addition, MEPs consider it essential that the Community express itself more coherently to ensure it has maximum influence at all stages of the process of drafting, interpreting and implementing accounting standards. They call on the Commission to develop and put forward a proposal, in consultation with the Parliament, the Member States and Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) to establish an EU structure constituting a legitimate international partner and guaranteeing uniform interpretation and application of standards.

Members consider that the EU should carefully assess the respective benefits of committing to an IFRS standard for SMEs or developing its own independent and comprehensive solution for SMEs. They advise, against this background, that user needs be analysed in detail once again.

Road map for convergence and equivalence: the report Notes the importance of the establishment of global standards and convergence. However, it emphasises that convergence with certain third-country standards must be based on a prior assessment of the merits and impact of such a change on EU preparers and users of financial statements and especially on SMEs.

Members welcome the progress made in the EU-US Accounting Roadmap and recall that on 30 April 2007 the President of the United States of America, the President-in-Office of the European Council and the President of the European Commission signed a Joint EU-US statement following the annual summit which on the issue of financial reporting contains the following: “Financial markets. Promote and seek to ensure conditions for the US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and International Financial Reporting Standards to be recognised in both jurisdictions without the need for reconciliation by 2009 or possibly sooner”.

2007/11/21
   EP - Amendments tabled in committee
Documents
2007/10/05
   EP - Committee opinion
Documents
2007/09/24
   EP - Committee draft report
Documents
2007/07/10
   CSL - Resolution/conclusions adopted by Council
Details

The Council adopted conclusions emphasising the importance of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for EU financial markets. Strong governance and stable funding of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation (IASCF) are crucial for the European Union.

The Council notes that following the two progress reports prepared by the Commission, improvements have been made to the IASB/IASCF governance structure. Reaffirming the July 2006 Conclusions, whilst recognising these achievements made by the IASB/IASCF, the Council would like to see further action in the following areas:

implementation of the decided measures to improve the IASB's governance structure through an appropriate work-plan; comments from the Roundtable on Consistent Application of IFRS in the EU need to be fully taken into account in work of the IASB on standards and interpretations; IASB should carry out rigorous ex-ante impact analysis for any new standards and ex-post analysis of the impact and functioning of issued standards and interpretations to ensure that their goals have been achieved and that they provide relevant information to users; Member States and the European Parliament should be regularly informed at an early stage by members of the IASB about their intention to issue new standards, and by the Trustees on governance developments in the IASCF; the IASCF should proceed swiftly with the review of the working methods of the Standards Advisory Council (SAC) and give more prominence to its role.

Furthermore, the Council continues to underline the importance/necessity of:

full transparency by the IASB at all stages of the process of international accounting standards convergence, taking into account the views of all relevant stakeholders; geographically balanced representation in all key Committees of the IASB/IASCF structure; ensuring that stakeholders are adequately represented in the IASB foundation, IASB and International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) governing bodies, bringing additional technical expertise.

The Council is generally satisfied with the IASCF efforts to provide stable and secure funding for the IASB structure. The Council nevertheless considers that the following measures are necessary to make further progress:

on the basis of clear financing needs, seek a broad international base of contributors, also including smaller jurisdictions; liaise with European and national business and other relevant organisations to support private sector efforts to create a broad-based voluntary financing system; demonstrate that other regions of the world are contributing equitably to the funding system; agree modalities for regular evaluation of the working of the future funding system with the aim to ensure its efficiency and stability.

The Council invites the Commission and the Economic and Financial Committee to continue monitoring the IASB/IASCF issues, and report to the Council on a regular basis on developments in governance and funding of the IASB and IASCF.

2007/07/10
   CSL - Council Meeting
2007/01/29
   EP - LEHNE Klaus-Heiner (PPE-DE) appointed as rapporteur in JURI
2006/10/26
   EP - Committee referral announced in Parliament
2006/05/15
   EP - RADWAN Alexander (PPE-DE) appointed as rapporteur in ECON

Documents

Activities

Votes

Rapport Radwan A6-0032/2008 - am. 16/rév. #

2008/04/24 Outcome: -: 315, +: 134, 0: 5
GB IE CY BG FI EE SE LT SI PL LV CZ LU BE MT DK NL SK AT HU RO EL PT IT ES FR DE
Total
38
8
1
10
10
5
13
8
4
30
5
14
3
20
4
11
17
9
12
14
21
11
13
35
28
50
60
icon: ALDE ALDE
66

Ireland ALDE

For (1)

1

Cyprus ALDE

For (1)

1

Estonia ALDE

2

Sweden ALDE

For (1)

1

Slovenia ALDE

1

Latvia ALDE

1

Denmark ALDE

2

Austria ALDE

1

Hungary ALDE

1

Spain ALDE

1
icon: IND/DEM IND/DEM
8

Ireland IND/DEM

For (1)

1

Sweden IND/DEM

2

Poland IND/DEM

3

Denmark IND/DEM

1

Netherlands IND/DEM

1
icon: UEN UEN
16

Lithuania UEN

Against (1)

1

Latvia UEN

2

Denmark UEN

Against (1)

1

Italy UEN

1
icon: NI NI
14

United Kingdom NI

For (1)

Against (1)

2

Bulgaria NI

2

Poland NI

1

Czechia NI

Abstain (1)

1

Austria NI

Against (1)

1

Italy NI

For (1)

1

France NI

3
icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL
19

Finland GUE/NGL

Against (1)

1

Sweden GUE/NGL

2

Denmark GUE/NGL

1

Netherlands GUE/NGL

2

Greece GUE/NGL

1

Portugal GUE/NGL

Against (1)

1

Italy GUE/NGL

2

Spain GUE/NGL

Against (1)

1

Germany GUE/NGL

1
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
27

United Kingdom Verts/ALE

3

Finland Verts/ALE

Against (1)

1

Latvia Verts/ALE

Against (1)

1

Luxembourg Verts/ALE

Against (1)

1

Belgium Verts/ALE

Against (1)

1

Denmark Verts/ALE

Against (1)

1

Netherlands Verts/ALE

1

Austria Verts/ALE

2

Italy Verts/ALE

2

Spain Verts/ALE

2
icon: PSE PSE
132

Bulgaria PSE

3

Finland PSE

2

Estonia PSE

2

Lithuania PSE

2

Czechia PSE

Against (1)

1

Malta PSE

2

Slovakia PSE

Against (1)

1

Austria PSE

3
icon: PPE-DE PPE-DE
172

Ireland PPE-DE

3

Bulgaria PPE-DE

2

Finland PPE-DE

Against (1)

2

Estonia PPE-DE

Against (1)

1

Lithuania PPE-DE

2

Slovenia PPE-DE

3

Latvia PPE-DE

Against (1)

1

Luxembourg PPE-DE

2

Malta PPE-DE

Against (2)

2

Denmark PPE-DE

Against (1)

1

Portugal PPE-DE

3

Rapport Radwan A6-0032/2008 - résolution #

2008/04/24 Outcome: +: 373, -: 21, 0: 13
DE FR IT PL ES RO NL CZ HU BE DK PT BG AT SK LT FI EL IE SE LV SI EE MT LU CY GB
Total
55
46
31
28
23
17
16
15
13
12
11
11
10
10
9
8
9
8
6
10
4
4
4
4
3
1
39
icon: PPE-DE PPE-DE
163

Denmark PPE-DE

1

Bulgaria PPE-DE

2
2

Finland PPE-DE

Abstain (1)

3

Ireland PPE-DE

2

Latvia PPE-DE

For (1)

1

Slovenia PPE-DE

3

Estonia PPE-DE

For (1)

1

Malta PPE-DE

2

Luxembourg PPE-DE

2
icon: PSE PSE
109

Czechia PSE

For (1)

1

Hungary PSE

2

Slovakia PSE

1

Lithuania PSE

2

Finland PSE

2
2

Sweden PSE

2

Estonia PSE

For (1)

1

Malta PSE

2
icon: ALDE ALDE
61

Spain ALDE

1

Hungary ALDE

1

Austria ALDE

1

Finland ALDE

2

Ireland ALDE

For (1)

1

Sweden ALDE

Against (1)

1

Latvia ALDE

1

Slovenia ALDE

1

Estonia ALDE

2

Cyprus ALDE

For (1)

1
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
25

Italy Verts/ALE

2

Spain Verts/ALE

1

Netherlands Verts/ALE

1

Belgium Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Denmark Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Austria Verts/ALE

1

Finland Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Latvia Verts/ALE

1

Luxembourg Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

United Kingdom Verts/ALE

3
icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL
18

Germany GUE/NGL

2
2

Italy GUE/NGL

2

Netherlands GUE/NGL

2

Denmark GUE/NGL

1

Portugal GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Finland GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Greece GUE/NGL

1

Sweden GUE/NGL

2
icon: UEN UEN
15

Denmark UEN

For (1)

1

Lithuania UEN

1

Ireland UEN

2

Latvia UEN

For (1)

1
icon: NI NI
9

France NI

Abstain (1)

1

Italy NI

For (1)

1

Poland NI

1

Czechia NI

1

Bulgaria NI

2

Austria NI

1

United Kingdom NI

For (1)

Against (1)

2
icon: IND/DEM IND/DEM
7

Poland IND/DEM

3

Netherlands IND/DEM

1

Denmark IND/DEM

1

Ireland IND/DEM

For (1)

1

Sweden IND/DEM

Against (1)

1

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)

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  • date: 2007-09-24T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE392.258 title: PE392.258 type: Committee draft report body: EP
  • date: 2007-10-05T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE388.441&secondRef=02 title: PE388.441 committee: JURI type: Committee opinion body: EP
  • date: 2007-11-21T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE396.751 title: PE396.751 type: Amendments tabled in committee body: EP
  • date: 2008-02-05T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A6-2008-32&language=EN title: A6-0032/2008 type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading body: EP
  • date: 2008-05-28T00:00:00 docs: url: /oeil/spdoc.do?i=14652&j=1&l=en title: SP(2008)3169 type: Commission response to text adopted in plenary
  • date: 2008-06-25T00:00:00 docs: url: /oeil/spdoc.do?i=14652&j=0&l=en title: SP(2008)3407 type: Commission response to text adopted in plenary
events
  • date: 2006-10-26T00:00:00 type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP
  • date: 2007-07-10T00:00:00 type: Resolution/conclusions adopted by Council body: CSL summary: The Council adopted conclusions emphasising the importance of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for EU financial markets. Strong governance and stable funding of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation (IASCF) are crucial for the European Union. The Council notes that following the two progress reports prepared by the Commission, improvements have been made to the IASB/IASCF governance structure. Reaffirming the July 2006 Conclusions, whilst recognising these achievements made by the IASB/IASCF, the Council would like to see further action in the following areas: implementation of the decided measures to improve the IASB's governance structure through an appropriate work-plan; comments from the Roundtable on Consistent Application of IFRS in the EU need to be fully taken into account in work of the IASB on standards and interpretations; IASB should carry out rigorous ex-ante impact analysis for any new standards and ex-post analysis of the impact and functioning of issued standards and interpretations to ensure that their goals have been achieved and that they provide relevant information to users; Member States and the European Parliament should be regularly informed at an early stage by members of the IASB about their intention to issue new standards, and by the Trustees on governance developments in the IASCF; the IASCF should proceed swiftly with the review of the working methods of the Standards Advisory Council (SAC) and give more prominence to its role. Furthermore, the Council continues to underline the importance/necessity of: full transparency by the IASB at all stages of the process of international accounting standards convergence, taking into account the views of all relevant stakeholders; geographically balanced representation in all key Committees of the IASB/IASCF structure; ensuring that stakeholders are adequately represented in the IASB foundation, IASB and International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) governing bodies, bringing additional technical expertise. The Council is generally satisfied with the IASCF efforts to provide stable and secure funding for the IASB structure. The Council nevertheless considers that the following measures are necessary to make further progress: on the basis of clear financing needs, seek a broad international base of contributors, also including smaller jurisdictions; liaise with European and national business and other relevant organisations to support private sector efforts to create a broad-based voluntary financing system; demonstrate that other regions of the world are contributing equitably to the funding system; agree modalities for regular evaluation of the working of the future funding system with the aim to ensure its efficiency and stability. The Council invites the Commission and the Economic and Financial Committee to continue monitoring the IASB/IASCF issues, and report to the Council on a regular basis on developments in governance and funding of the IASB and IASCF.
  • date: 2008-01-29T00:00:00 type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading body: EP summary: The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs adopted an own-initiative report by Alexander RADWAN (EPP-ED, DE) on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the Governance of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). Members are convinced that the aim must be to develop high-quality global accounting standards. In this perspective, they have drawn up the following recommendations: Transparent, responsible international organisations: the report underlines that the IASCF/IASB lack transparency, legitimacy, accountability and are not under the control of any democratically elected parliament or government. MEPs therefore consider that a debate should be launched on the conditions for integrating the IASCF/IASB into the system of international governance e.g. the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Bank. In particular, governance and accountability must be improved through the following measures: (a) setting up a public oversight body involving all IASCF/ IASB public stakeholders, and setting up a body allowing representative market participants to deliver annually a report on the functioning of international accounting standard setting to the governing bodies of the IASCF/IASB; (b) such a body could be responsible for selecting and appointing the trustees in a transparent procedure; (c) guarantee that, in terms of the composition of the IASB, the Standards Advisory Council (SAC) and the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC), the trustees ensure that the appointment procedure is transparent and due account is taken of the interests of various interest groups; (d) increased involvement of the trustees in supervising the IASB and its work plan; (e) ensure, in the constitution of the IASCF, that the IASB develops accounting solutions that are not only technically correct but also reflect what is necessary and possible from the point of view of all users and preparers; (f) impact assessments for all projects, so as to check the costs and benefits of draft texts and, in particular, to highlight the implications for financial stability. The report emphasises that improvements to accountability and governance of the IASCF/IASB must not create excessive bureaucracy and that the IASB, before adopting a new standard, should carry out impact studies among all interested parties, taking account of regional diversity and market structures. In terms of funding, the IASCF/IASB are called upon to examine how the funding system can be amended to ensure that: (1) all user groups are adequately involved in funding; (2) no conflict of interests arises between financers and users and; (3) there is better and easier access to the accounting standards. In addition, MEPs consider it essential that the Community express itself more coherently to ensure it has maximum influence at all stages of the process of drafting, interpreting and implementing accounting standards. They call on the Commission to develop and put forward a proposal, in consultation with the Parliament, the Member States and Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) to establish an EU structure constituting a legitimate international partner and guaranteeing uniform interpretation and application of standards. Members consider that the EU should carefully assess the respective benefits of committing to an IFRS standard for SMEs or developing its own independent and comprehensive solution for SMEs. They advise, against this background, that user needs be analysed in detail once again. Road map for convergence and equivalence: the report Notes the importance of the establishment of global standards and convergence. However, it emphasises that convergence with certain third-country standards must be based on a prior assessment of the merits and impact of such a change on EU preparers and users of financial statements and especially on SMEs. Members welcome the progress made in the EU-US Accounting Roadmap and recall that on 30 April 2007 the President of the United States of America, the President-in-Office of the European Council and the President of the European Commission signed a Joint EU-US statement following the annual summit which on the issue of financial reporting contains the following: “Financial markets. Promote and seek to ensure conditions for the US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and International Financial Reporting Standards to be recognised in both jurisdictions without the need for reconciliation by 2009 or possibly sooner”.
  • date: 2008-02-05T00:00:00 type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A6-2008-32&language=EN title: A6-0032/2008
  • date: 2008-04-24T00:00:00 type: Results of vote in Parliament body: EP docs: url: https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=14652&l=en title: Results of vote in Parliament
  • date: 2008-04-24T00:00:00 type: Debate in Parliament body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20080424&type=CRE title: Debate in Parliament
  • date: 2008-04-24T00:00:00 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P6-TA-2008-183 title: T6-0183/2008 summary: The European Parliament adopted, by 373 votes to 21 with 13 abstentions, a resolution on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the Governance of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). The own-initiative report was tabled for consideration in plenary by Alexander RADWAN (EPP-ED, DE) on behalf of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. Members are convinced that the aim must be to develop high-quality global accounting standards. In this perspective, they have drawn up the following recommendations: Transparent, responsible international organisations : Parliament underlines that the IASCF/IASB lack transparency, legitimacy, accountability and are not under the control of any democratically elected parliament or government. MEPs therefore consider that a debate should be launched on the conditions for integrating the IASCF/IASB into the system of international governance e.g. the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Bank. In particular, governance and accountability must be improved through the following measures: (a) setting up a public oversight body involving all IASCF/ IASB public stakeholders, and setting up a body allowing representative market participants to deliver annually a report on the functioning of international accounting standard setting to the governing bodies of the IASCF/IASB; (b) such a body could be responsible for selecting and appointing the trustees in a transparent procedure; (c) guarantee that, in terms of the composition of the IASB, the Standards Advisory Council (SAC) and the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC), the trustees ensure that the appointment procedure is transparent and due account is taken of the interests of various interest groups; (d) increased involvement of the trustees in supervising the IASB and its work plan; (e) ensure, in the constitution of the IASCF, that the IASB develops accounting solutions that are not only technically correct but also reflect what is necessary and possible from the point of view of all users and preparers; (f) impact assessments for all projects, so as to check the costs and benefits of draft texts and, in particular, to highlight the implications for financial stability. Improvements to accountability of the IASCF/IASB must not create excessive bureaucracy and must ensure that technical issues are not unnecessarily politicised. In terms of funding, the IASCF/IASB are called upon to examine how the funding system can be amended to ensure that: (1) all user groups are adequately involved in funding; (2) no conflict of interests arises between financers and users and; (3) there is better and easier access to the accounting standards. It is essential that the Community express itself more coherently to ensure it has maximum influence at all stages of the process of drafting, interpreting and implementing accounting standards. They call on the Commission to put forward a proposal to establish an EU structure constituting a legitimate international partner and guaranteeing uniform interpretation and application of standards. Members note that there are a variety of problems with the use of IRFS for SME’s. They call on the Commission to arrange a thorough consultation procedure concerning an accounting framework for SMEs in the EU along the lines of ordinary legislative proposals, and to withdraw its commitment to implementing and adopting an IFRS for SMEs, thus preventing parallel application of standards in the EU, for so long as the EU internal process has not been concluded. Road map for convergence and equivalence: Parliament supports the idea of convergence and equivalence, but emphasises that convergence with certain third-country standards must be based on a prior assessment of the merits and impact of such a change on EU preparers and users of financial statements and especially on SMEs, and calls on the IASB to bear this in mind when proceeding. The outstanding issue concerns the competence of the different jurisdictions applying the IFRS for establishing the definitive interpretation thereof, which entails the risk that conflicting interpretations will result. Only European authorities and courts are competent definitively to interpret an EU-specific IFRS. The Commission must develop a system that will guarantee that the IFRS is interpreted and applied uniformly throughout the European Union.
  • date: 2008-04-24T00:00:00 type: End of procedure in Parliament body: EP
links
other
  • body: EC dg: url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/internal_market/ title: Internal Market and Services commissioner: MCCREEVY Charlie
procedure/dossier_of_the_committee
Old
ECON/6/38096
New
  • ECON/6/38096
procedure/legal_basis/0
Rules of Procedure EP 52
procedure/legal_basis/0
Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 052
procedure/subject
Old
  • 2.50 Free movement of capital
  • 2.50.04 Banks and credit
  • 3.45.03 Financial management of undertakings, business loans, accounting
New
2.50
Free movement of capital
2.50.04
Banks and credit
3.45.03
Financial management of undertakings, business loans, accounting
activities
  • date: 2006-10-26T00:00:00 body: EP type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading committees: body: EP responsible: True committee: ECON date: 2006-05-15T00:00:00 committee_full: Economic and Monetary Affairs rapporteur: group: PPE-DE name: RADWAN Alexander body: EP responsible: False committee: JURI date: 2007-01-29T00:00:00 committee_full: Legal Affairs rapporteur: group: PPE-DE name: LEHNE Klaus-Heiner
  • body: CSL meeting_id: 2813 council: Economic and Financial Affairs ECOFIN date: 2007-07-10T00:00:00 type: Council Meeting
  • date: 2008-01-29T00:00:00 body: EP committees: body: EP responsible: True committee: ECON date: 2006-05-15T00:00:00 committee_full: Economic and Monetary Affairs rapporteur: group: PPE-DE name: RADWAN Alexander body: EP responsible: False committee: JURI date: 2007-01-29T00:00:00 committee_full: Legal Affairs rapporteur: group: PPE-DE name: LEHNE Klaus-Heiner type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • date: 2008-02-05T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A6-2008-32&language=EN type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading title: A6-0032/2008 body: EP type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
  • date: 2008-04-24T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=14652&l=en type: Results of vote in Parliament title: Results of vote in Parliament url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20080424&type=CRE type: Debate in Parliament title: Debate in Parliament url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P6-TA-2008-183 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading title: T6-0183/2008 body: EP type: Results of vote in Parliament
committees
  • body: EP responsible: True committee: ECON date: 2006-05-15T00:00:00 committee_full: Economic and Monetary Affairs rapporteur: group: PPE-DE name: RADWAN Alexander
  • body: EP responsible: False committee: JURI date: 2007-01-29T00:00:00 committee_full: Legal Affairs rapporteur: group: PPE-DE name: LEHNE Klaus-Heiner
links
other
  • body: EC dg: url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/internal_market/ title: Internal Market and Services commissioner: MCCREEVY Charlie
procedure
dossier_of_the_committee
ECON/6/38096
reference
2006/2248(INI)
title
Capital market: International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the governance of the IASB
legal_basis
Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 052
stage_reached
Procedure completed
subtype
Initiative
type
INI - Own-initiative procedure
subject