(1)

In its Presidency conclusions, the European Council of 8 and 9 March 2007 underlined that reducing administrative burdens is important for boosting the European economy, especially in view of the benefits that this could bring for small and medium-sized companies. It stressed that a strong joint effort on the part of both the European Union and the Member States is necessary in order to reduce administrative burdens.

(2)

Accounting and auditing have been identified as areas in which the administrative burdens on companies within the Community can be reduced.

(3)

The Commission’s communication of 10 July 2007 on a simplified business environment for companies in the areas of company law, accounting and auditing identifies amendments that need to be made to Fourth Council Directive 78/660/EEC of 25 July 1978 on the annual accounts of certain types of companies (3) and Seventh Council Directive 83/349/EEC of 13 June 1983 on consolidated accounts (4). Special attention has been given to further relieving the reporting burden imposed on small and medium-sized companies.

(4)

In the past, a number of changes have been made in order to enable companies falling within the scope of Directives 78/660/EEC and 83/349/EEC to use accounting methods in accordance with international financial reporting standards (IFRS). Pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1606/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 July 2002 on the application of international accounting standards (5), companies the securities of which are admitted to trading on a regulated market of any Member State have to prepare their consolidated accounts in accordance with IFRS, and are consequently relieved from most of the requirements set out in Directives 78/660/EEC and 83/349/EEC. Those Directives, however, still form the basis for small and medium-sized companies’ accounting in the Community.

(5)

Small and medium-sized companies are often subject to the same rules as larger companies, but their specific accounting needs have rarely been assessed. In particular, the increasing number of disclosure requirements raises concerns for such companies. Extensive reporting rules create a financial burden and can hinder efficient use of capital for productive purposes.

(6)

The application of Regulation (EC) No 1606/2002 has also highlighted the need to clarify the relationship between the accounting standards required by Directive 83/349/EEC and IFRS.

(7)

Where formation expenses can be treated as an asset in the balance sheet, Article 34(2) of Directive 78/660/EEC requires that those expenses be explained in the notes to the accounts. Small companies can be exempted from that disclosure requirement in accordance with Article 44(2) of that Directive. In order to reduce unnecessary administrative burdens, it should also be possible to exempt medium-sized companies from that disclosure requirement.

(8)

Directive 83/349/EEC requires a parent undertaking to prepare consolidated accounts even if the only subsidiary or all of the subsidiaries as a whole are not material for the purposes of Article 16(3) of that Directive. As a consequence, those undertakings fall under Regulation (EC) No 1606/2002 and therefore have to prepare consolidated financial statements in accordance with IFRS. That requirement is considered to be burdensome where a parent undertaking has only immaterial subsidiaries. Therefore a parent undertaking should be exempted from the obligation to draw up consolidated accounts and a consolidated annual report if it has only subsidiary undertakings considered as not being material, both individually and as a whole. Although that statutory obligation should be lifted, a parent undertaking should remain able to draw up consolidated accounts and a consolidated annual report on its own initiative.

(9)

Since the objective of this Directive, namely to reduce administrative burdens relating to certain disclosure requirements imposed on medium-sized companies and the obligation to draw up consolidated accounts for certain companies within the Community, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale and effects of the action, be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.

(10)

Directives 78/660/EEC and 83/349/EEC should therefore be amended accordingly.

(11)

In accordance with point 34 of the Interinstitutional Agreement on better law-making (6), Member States are encouraged to draw up, for themselves and in the interests of the Community, their own tables illustrating, as far as possible, the correlation between this Directive and the transposition measures, and to make them public,