European Commission releases responses to the Green Paper 'Building a Capital Markets Union'

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11 Jun 2015

In February 2015 the European Commission (EC) launched a public consultation as part of its project to boost growth in the EU with the creation of a single market for capital and break down the barriers that are blocking cross-border investments in the EU and preventing businesses from getting access to finance.

One of the questions (Question eight) had been whether there is value in developing a common EU level accounting standard for small and medium-sized entities (SMEs). From the responses made available, three options seem to emerge:

  • an IFRS-based solution, perhaps with simplification in presentation and disclosure;
  • using the IFRS for SMEs as a basis for an EU solution;
  • not making any changes as member states already have the option to permit the use of IFRSs for their SMEs.

Generally, a freestanding EU solution found little support.

In its response to the consultation, the IFRS Foundation had emphasised its willingness to work with the EC in considering the financial reporting implications of the CMU.

Please click to access all responses on the EC website (scroll to the right for responses to question eight). A summary of responses will be published at a later stage along with an action plan in September 2015.

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