Ausführliche Sitzungsberichte

Montag, 6. Juni 2016 - Straßburg

15. Bewertung der Internationalen Rechnungslegungsstandards (IAS) (kurze Darstellung)

Puhemies. – Esityslistalla on seuraavana lyhyt esittely Theodor Dumitru Stolojanin mietinnöstä Kansainvälisten tilinpäätösstandardien (IAS) arviointi (2016/2006(INI)) (A8—0172/2016).

  Theodor Dumitru Stolojan, rapporteur. – Madam President, first of all, I would like to thank all of the shadow rapporteurs who contributed to this report on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

It is the first time that the European Parliament presents its strategic view on the issue of IFRS. These standards are the bedrock of all investment decisions in the global capital markets, and of the evaluation of company management on behalf of its shareholders.

For over a year, we have held many debates, seminars and hearings, with different stakeholders, standard setters, academics and experts. Let me focus on the main points of this report. We think that the concept of public good for the IFRS should be clarified, as well as the potential conflict between the private nature of the IASB, the standard setter, and the public good nature of the IFRS that are applied today in more than 110 countries and jurisdictions.

There are differences between how we in the European Union understand the concept of true and fair view, the principles of prudence and stewardship, which are the basis of accounting standards, and the accounting setters view on this concept and principle.

We insist on the need for an impact assessment for every new accounting standard or change of a current accounting standard. We think about the future of EFRAG, the private technical advisor of the European Commission in the process of IFRS endorsement in the European Union, and about the possibility on the long-term to transform EFRAG into a European agency.

We also ask for the strengthening of the role of the European Parliament, both in the process of setting accounting standards and in the endorsement process of IFRS in the European Union.

Pyynnöstä myönnettävät puheenvuorot

  Nicola Caputo (S&D). – Signora Presidente, onorevoli colleghi, la creazione di una regolamentazione armonizzata sull'applicazione dei principi contabili di alta qualità è un irrinunciabile requisito per regolare la concorrenza e un efficace metodo per eliminare gli ostacoli agli investimenti su scala globale. Tale correttivo, coerente con il settore della regolamentazione prudenziale, si dimostra quanto mai necessario in un periodo di crisi finanziaria. Va quindi rafforzato, ai fini dello sviluppo di un'unione dei mercati dei capitali, il modello dei principi di informativa finanziaria fino al punto che questi poi informino le regole di governance interna degli istituti finanziari. Va infatti sottolineato che, con l'innalzamento del livello di responsabilità finanziaria, sono stati agevolati il mercato unico e la competitività dell'economia, permettendo alle imprese di attrarre capitali ed investimenti. Mi associo alle preoccupazioni del relatore sulla difficoltà degli organismi preposti a stabilire i principi contabili per la complessità degli strumenti finanziari utilizzati e la necessità di principi globali trasparenti e comparabili che possano essere compresi da un vasto gruppo di soggetti interessati.

  Νότης Μαριάς ( ECR). – Κυρία Πρόεδρε, σύμφωνα με την Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση, η εφαρμογή των Διεθνών Λογιστικών Προτύπων δίνει στις επιχειρήσεις τη δυνατότητα να προσελκύουν κεφάλαια και επενδύσεις στις διεθνείς κεφαλαιαγορές συμβάλλοντας έτσι στην ενίσχυση της ενιαίας αγοράς. Βέβαια, η χρηματοπιστωτική κρίση έδειξε ότι αυτά τα πρότυπα πρέπει να επανεξεταστούν. Ειδικότερα θα πρέπει να ενισχυθεί εκ μέρους των διεθνών προτύπων χρηματοοικονομικής αναφοράς η λογοδοσία και να μειωθεί το χάσμα μεταξύ επενδυτών και επιχειρήσεων, ώστε να προστατευτούν οι επενδύσεις. Έτσι θα ενισχυθεί και η διεθνής συγκρισιμότητα και επομένως η διαφάνεια στην απεικόνιση της πραγματικής κατάστασης των οικονομικών μονάδων. Επιπλέον, όσον αφορά την εφαρμογή των Διεθνών Λογιστικών Προτύπων σε ένα κράτος μέλος, θα πρέπει να υπάρχει εναρμόνιση του θεσμικού και νομικού περιβάλλοντος καθώς και καλύτερη ενημέρωση ελεγκτών και λογιστών για τις τεχνικές λεπτομέρειες της εφαρμογής τους. Τέλος, θα πρέπει να ενισχυθεί η διαφάνεια και η αξιοπιστία στις αρμόδιες εποπτικές και ρυθμιστικές αρχές.

  Ivan Jakovčić (ALDE). – Gospođo predsjedavajuća, dozvolite mi da odmah na početku kažem da bez kvalitetne usklađenosti međunarodnih računovodstvenih standarda naravno da nema jedinstvenog niti konkurentnog europskog tržišta. U ovom izvještaju, kojega naravno svakako i podržavam, želim jasno naznačiti dvije teme. Prva tema je javnost i interes javnosti da sve tvrtke koje su izlistane na burzi budu na neki način jednako tretirane.

Naravno da imamo zakonodavstvo od 2005. godine, ali mislim da upravo u tom elementu Europska unija mora biti lider na svjetskom financijskom tržištu. A druga tema je pitanje jednakog vrednovanja boniteta poduzeća. Tu isto tako Europska unija mora biti poticatelj kako ne bismo imali situacije da kada se neko poduzeće kupuje, kada se u neko poduzeće želi uložiti, nemamo kvalitetnu informaciju o njegovom bonitetu.

  Miguel Viegas (GUE/NGL). – Senhora Presidente, as normas internacionais de contabilidade constituem uma parte importante do quadro regulamentar e de supervisão da União Europeia.

Estas normas interagem com uma grande variedade de atos de regulamentação da União Europeia sobre serviços e, designadamente, no domínio da regulação prudencial. Acompanhamos o relatório sobre o papel central das normas de contabilidade para o desenvolvimento de um mercado mais transparente, mais legível para a comunidade. O que não acompanhamos é esta associação da necessidade de melhorar as normas internacionais de contabilidade com a atual crise financeira.

As normas de contabilidade internacionais são importantes, mas não podem substituir as medidas de fundo que se impõem para controlar o mundo da finança, evitando esta especulação sem regra e sem freio e que conduz a crises cujos custos acabam sempre por ser suportados pelos mesmos de sempre.

Desta forma, não confundamos os planos de intervenção. A crise será resolvida quando houver vontade política para tomar as medidas que se impõe e que passam por um controlo público do sistema financeiro, bem como dos grandes oligopólios que mandam de facto nesta União Europeia.

  Igor Šoltes (Verts/ALE). – Poenoteni mednarodni računovodski standardi igrajo pomembno vlogo pri zagotavljanju po eni strani finančne discipline, po drugi strani seveda tudi preglednosti in pa tudi odgovornosti tako zasebnega kot posredno tudi javnega sektorja.

Predvsem je pri izvajanju računovodskih standardov pomembna beseda zaupanje. In tisti, ki trdijo, da so mednarodni računovodski standardi seveda tudi delni krivec za finančno krizo in ekonomsko, lahko povem, da seveda niso računovodski standardi tisti, ampak je predvsem je kriv tisti, ki jih je uporabljal na neustrezen način, ko seveda postanejo lahko tudi računovodski standardi predmet zlorab, ko postanejo predmet špekulacij in pa seveda tudi prilagajanje bilanc podjetjem.

In zato seveda je potreben strog nadzor nad delovanjem in uporabo teh standardov, ker edino na ta način lahko zagotovimo zaupanje.

  Jonathan Arnott (EFDD). – Madam President, I think sometimes the words ‘avoidance’ and ‘evasion’ get a little lost in translation. There is certainly a spectrum from at one end, say, a plumber who uses his van for work, who decides whether it is appropriate to claim for wear and tear on a vehicle or on a mileage basis. I think few would argue that this is something we really need to stamp out of society. I think people would say it is perfectly legitimate for that plumber to choose how he goes about doing things. But then you move on to multinationals which aggressively employ teams of accountants, and I think we want to root out that kind of aggressive tax avoidance. And then of course there is evasion, which is completely breaking the law.

I think, when things get lost in translation like that, the idea of this one-size-fits-all legislation across 28 different legal systems starts to fall apart a little bit. That is the concern that I have about EU-imposed country-by-country public reporting, which could prove to be counterproductive.

  Tibor Szanyi (S&D). – Elnök Asszony! A nemzetközi pénzügyi beszámolási standardok alkalmazása a múltban jelentősen hozzájárult az egységes piac megerősítéséhez, azonban a pénzügyi válság megmutatta, hogy ezek felülvizsgálatra és javításra szorulnak. A nemzetközi pénzügyi beszámolási standardok és a nemzetközi számviteli standardok, amelyek elengedhetetlenek a belső piac és a tőkepiacok hatékony működéséhez, közjavaknak tekinthetők, amelyeknek biztosítaniuk kell a pénzügyi stabilitást, a fenntartható fejlődést, valamint a teljes átláthatóságot és elszámolási kötelezettséget. Éppen ezért röviden: a közérdeket kell szolgálniuk, és nem csupán a befektetők, kölcsönadók és a hitelezők érdekeit. A közérdeket kell szolgálniuk.

(Pyynnöstä myönnettävät puheenvuorot päättyvät)

  Christos Stylianides, Member of the Commission. – Madam President, on behalf of my dear colleague Jonathan Hill I would first of all like to congratulate Mr Stolojan on taking the initiative to present this report. I note with pleasure that we have a common understanding on many issues.

Our conclusions of the evaluation of the IAS Regulation were overall positive on the experience with IFRS and on the endorsement process, with practical improvements identified. We will carefully consider all the recommendations listed in the report. In fact we have been working on some of them already for some time. In particular, we have noted the need for a better coordination between all actors in the endorsement process. We, therefore, welcome the set-up of a European Parliament permanent IFRS team which has already been a helpful forum to discuss IFRS-related issues.

Regarding the governance of the bodies developing and advising on the standards, in our reply to the IFRS Foundation’s consultations on their structure and effectiveness, we passed a strong message to improve the public accountability of the IFRS Foundation. We wish to see a more active Monitoring Board on issues of public interest, an allocation of top jobs to countries that fund it and use its IFRS standards, and a strengthened effects analysis.

For EFRAG, the appointment of the President of the Board in the coming weeks will be the last step of the reform. Following the withdrawal of Wolf Klinz and the need for another selection procedure, the Commission selected Jean-Paul Gauzès. We are pleased to note that the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs agreed on 30 May to support Mr Gauzès’s nomination.

In parallel, our services are intensively working with EFRAG to establish a sound basis for a solid effects analysis methodology which we would like EFRAG to apply in support of their future endorsement advices. Consequently, I am counting on the support of the European Parliament to ensure a rapid adoption of our proposal to extend the co-financing of EFRAG for the period 2017-2020 along the same lines as was earlier agreed with Parliament with respect to the IFRS Foundation and the PIOB (Public Interest Oversight Board).

Regarding the request for clarification of certain endorsement criteria such as ‘the public good’ and the ‘true and fair’ principle, I am pleased to inform you that our services have had very constructive and substantial discussions with representatives of the Member States in the Accounting Regulatory Committee. We have reached common grounds on these issues in that Committee. The case law has been analysed and the Maystadt report was taken into account. We will shortly publish the outcome of these discussions and we would be happy to discuss our findings with Parliament, to start with in the European Parliament IFRS team, if you like.

In this context, I would like to mention that at this moment, we see no compelling need to review the existing legislation. On balance, the endorsement process works well and I believe we can bring meaningful improvements with respect to the endorsement process, including with respect to the application of concepts such as ‘public good’ and ‘true and fair’, without the need to legislate, by providing stakeholders and those involved in the standard setting process with the necessary clarifications.

Puhemies. – Keskustelu on päättynyt.

  Romana Tomc (PPE), pisno. – Mednarodni računovodski standardi so bistveni element za učinkovito delovanje trga in so prispevali k splošnemu izboljšanju kakovosti računovodskih podatkov in izkazov, kar koristi tako enotnemu trgu kot tudi kapitalskim trgom.

Menim, da so potrebne še določene izboljšave, saj države članice teh standardov ne izvajajo v celoti oziroma jih ne podpirajo v celoti. Treba je oblikovati skupne smernice, ter spodbuditi države članice da jim sledijo in standarde izvajajo v celoti. Prav tako se mi zdi pomembno, da razvijemo poenostavljene vseevropske računovodske standarde za mala in srednja podjetja, ki bi jim omogočili večjo čezmejno mobilnost, manjše stroške in lažji dostop do financiranja na kapitalskih trgih.