Frequently Asked Questions Audit Reforms in the European Union

The following frequently asked questions document has been prepared by the Regulatory and Public Policy Affairs department (RAPP) at the BDO International Executive Office in Brussels. The information sources for the preparation of this document are various workshops and meetings with the European Commission and relevant stakeholders attended by the IEO RAPP team. In addition, we have drawn on multiple papers prepared by FEE (the European Federation of Accountants), papers and press releases by the European Commission and contributions by the BDO Member Firms.

The aim of the document is to respond to questions posed on some of the key issues arising as a result of the EU audit reforms. The document endeavours to provide answers and clarity on some of the new rules and their implementation implications. As the texts were adopted in June 2014 and most of the new measures will come into effect in June 2016, there is still a lot of uncertainty regarding the implementation of many of these measures. We have noted the main issues that are still subject to different interpretations and we will try to provide more information on these as soon as it becomes available. In addition, both the Audit Directive and the Audit Regulation provide a significant number of options to the Member States which could result in multiple different applications for those measures. The European Commission is currently holding workshops with the Member States with the purpose of clarifying the implementation issues stemming from the texts and to ensure consistency of application of the new measures throughout the Member States. We will be following these developments and provide more information in due course.

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