The recent bill implementing the new European Accounting Directive will have to become law by the 20 July 2015 deadline.
The new provisions will apply to the financial years starting on or after 1 January 2016 and include the following changes:
- The "annual report" will be called the "management report" in line with the directive.
- The statutory audit of the management report will be extended: the auditor has to state whether he or she has identified material misstatements in the management report and has to give an indication of the nature of those misstatements.
- Undertakings active in the extractive industry or the logging of primary forests have to report on payments to governments of the countries in which they are active. There have been several calls to extend this country-by-country reporting to all large undertakings. Recently, the Second Chamber passed a motion requesting the government to make an effort to implement this on a European level.
The new European Directive on non-financial and diversity information will be implemented in a separate bill. Under this Directive, any public-interest entity with more than 500 employees has to include environmental, social and employee matters, respect for human rights, and anti-corruption in the management report. Listed companies must also describe the diversity policy for their management and supervisory bodies and if no such policy is conducted, explain why.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
