The European Commission launched on 12 November the expected consultation on three pillars of corporate reporting: corporate governance, audit, and supervision.
This EC initiative aims to strengthen the quality of corporate reporting and its enforcement. It focuses on large listed companies, Public Interest Entities (PIEs).
The consultation questions are split into five sections:
- The overall impact of the EU framework on the three pillars of corporate reporting
- The corporate governance pillar
- The statutory audit pillar
- The supervision of PIE statutory auditors and audit firms
- The supervision of corporate reporting
The questions cover issues regulated by the various EU initiatives: EU Accounting Directive, Transparency Directive, and Audit Regulation. Part of the consultation package is a so-called ‘call for evidence’ document which provides background information on this initiative, including issues that it aims to address.
The responses will directly feed into the EC’s impact assessment (planned for 2022) with a view to possibly amend and strengthen the current EU rules in relevant areas. The deadline to respond to the call for evidence and consultation is 4 February 2022. The adoption date for legislative proposals is planned (indicative planning) for the last quarter of 2022.
ECIIA will react to this consultation.