CESR recommendations on use of IFRS in prospectuses

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09 Jan 2004

The Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) has submitted to the European Commission its (PDF 294k) on the content of prospectuses.

Noting that some EU member States require 3 years of historical financial information in prospectuses, CESR recommended, for companies that must switch to IFRS because they are selling securities in a public market for the first time, that:
  • Debt issuers should restate only one year of accounts on an IFRS basis even if two years is required for equity issuers.
  • No issuer should be required to produce IFRS figures in a prospectus for any period earlier than 1 January 2004 (1 January 2006 if the member State allows delayed transition to IFRS for debt issuers and/or companies that currently prepare their primary financial statements with US GAAP).
  • Non-EU companies that list in Europe for the first time and that use "internationally accepted standards" should be allowed to continue to do so until 2007.
  • Non-EU issuers that currently have securities listed on a European exchange be required to switch to IFRS only if the future transparency directive requires them to do so.
  • The Commission should establish a procedure to evaluate equivalence of non-EU-GAAPs to IFRS.
Click for (PDF 114k) and Link to CESR Website.

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