INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS

1 INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS A CONSULTATION DOCUMENT ON THE POSSIBLE EXTENSION OF THE EUROPEAN REGULATON ON INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS 30 August 2002 URN 02/1158 INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS A CONSULTATION DOCUMENT ON THE POSSIBLE EXTENSION OF THE EUROPEAN REGULATON ON INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS 30 August 2002 Crown copyright CONTENTS PAGE NUMBER Section 1 - Summary and questions 1 5 Section 2 - How to Reply 6 Section 3 - Background 7 13 Section 4 - Analysis of options 14 24 ANNEXES A Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Application of INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS 25 33 B Explanatory note to the Regulation 34 36 C List of regulated markets in the EU 37 41 D Draft Regulatory Impact Assessment 42 49 E Cabinet Office Code of Practice on Written Consultations 50 1.

2 SUMMARY AND QUESTIONS The Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Application of INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS was adopted by Member States on 7 June 2002. It applies from the financial years commencing 1 January 2005. The Regulation and an explanatory note are attached at Annexes A and B respectively. The Regulation introduces important changes, which will directly affect the way in which certain companies across the European Union (EU) prepare their financial statements. As a minimum, it will require companies governed by the law of a Member State, whose securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market in any Member State in the European Union ( publicly traded companies ), to prepare their consolidated accounts on the basis of ACCOUNTING STANDARDS issued by the INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS Board (IASB) that are adopted by the European Commission.

3 Annex C provides a list of regulated markets in the EU. An explanation of the adoption process is included at Annex B. Current STANDARDS are known as INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS (IAS). Future STANDARDS will be known as INTERNATIONAL Financial Reporting STANDARDS . The Regulation only applies to the detailed ACCOUNTING provisions; domestic law implementing the ACCOUNTING Directives where relevant will continue to apply in other areas such as the requirement to prepare accounts, auditing, enforcement and the directors report. This is a significant development in financial reporting.

4 The Government welcomes the adoption of the Regulation and strongly supports the European move to use IASB STANDARDS . Global markets require high quality globally agreed ACCOUNTING STANDARDS to work more effectively. For publicly traded companies, adherence to global ACCOUNTING STANDARDS should help to reduce the cost of capital by making their accounts more accessible to potential investors across the EU and worldwide. For potential investors, creditors and other users of financial statements, global STANDARDS provide a single means by which to compare performance and prospects on a like-for-like basis.

5 Global STANDARDS should also help to promote financial stability. For those UK companies affected, the Regulation will have two main impacts. Firstly, they will have to comply with adopted ACCOUNTING STANDARDS issued by the IASB, in place of much of the Companies Act 1985 and the domestic ACCOUNTING STANDARDS issued by the ACCOUNTING STANDARDS Board (ASB) (which are in any case converging with IAS - see paragraphs ). Secondly, those STANDARDS will have direct legal force. The same 1conditions will apply to relevant companies in the other Member States. It is important that companies covered by the Regulation and their accountants and auditors begin planning ahead for the change, if they are not already doing so.

6 As noted, the Regulation applies directly to the consolidated accounts of publicly traded companies. It also gives each Member State certain options to extend its application (and hence the need to comply with adopted IAS). Each Member State may permit or require: publicly traded companies to prepare their individual accounts in accordance with adopted IAS; some or all non-publicly traded companies to prepare their consolidated and/or individual accounts in accordance with adopted IAS. The Regulation also gives each Member State the option of delaying its application until 1 January 2007 in the case of: publicly traded companies which have only their debt securities (eg bonds) admitted on an EU regulated market; publicly traded companies whose securities are admitted to trading on markets outside the EU and which, for that purpose, currently use internationally accepted ACCOUNTING STANDARDS (eg US STANDARDS ).

7 The purpose of this consultation is twofold: to explain the background to the Regulation, what it means and how it will work (section 3, Annex B); and to seek views on the Member State options in paragraphs and (section 4). It should be noted that the consultation does not consider the mandatory application of the Regulation to the consolidated accounts of publicly traded companies - the Regulation in this respect has already been adopted by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. The Government does not yet have a preferred option on the extension of the application of the Regulation beyond the consolidated accounts of publicly traded companies.

8 The Government does not believe there is a case for deferring application of the Regulation until 2007 for the companies mentioned in paragraph 2 The Government expects to come to a decision on the options early next year in the light of this consultation. This consultation is separate from the general consultation being carried out in parallel on reform of company law in Great Britain ( Modernising Company Law , Cm 5553-1, published 16 July 2002, ). However, the two are closely linked in some respects, since any extension of the application of the Regulation (and hence the application of adopted IAS) could have implications for the White Paper s proposals on a new institutional framework for domestic ACCOUNTING requirements (see paragraphs ).

9 Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs), and undertakings that are prudentially regulated under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA) and do not have the status of companies, are not covered by the Regulation or its options, and so are not strictly part of this consultation. However, the Government will need to consider their position in relation to IAS once it has decided on the exercise of the Member State options. The Government s general policy on such bodies is to treat them in the same way as companies of the same size and sector unless this is clearly inappropriate.

10 The Government is taking advantage of the consultation to inform any consequential decisions relating to LLPs and other undertakings. Some of the bodies are the responsibility of HM Treasury rather than DTI. Questions for consideration In the light of the discussion in the main text of this document, consultees are asked, in particular, to respond to the following questions, giving reasons for their views: 1. Should the Government extend the application of the Regulation beyond the requirement for the consolidated accounts of publicly traded companies to comply with adopted IAS?