New EU rules to promote high-quality audits in force

(BRUSSELS) - New EU statutory audit rules came into force Friday, with the aim of enhancing investor trust in companies' financial information, and boosting confidence in Europe's financial sector.

The rules, adopted by the European Parliament and EU Council in 2014, consist of an amended Directive setting out the framework for all statutory audits and a Regulation setting out specific requirements for statutory audits of public-interest entities (PIEs), such as listed companies, banks and insurance undertakings.

The new rules are intended to enhance the transparency of companies' financial information, by providing investors with a more informative audit report, as well as providing an additional report to the audit committees of PIEs.

Auditors will now also have a strong mandate to be independent and to exert professional scepticism regarding the management of the audited company.

For example, in the case of PIEs, auditors will rotate on a regular basis and will no longer be allowed to provide certain non-audit services to their audit clients. In addition, the new rules will help foster diversity and drive innovation in audit and non-audit markets via the new rotation system combined with the restriction to provide certain non-audit services to PIEs.

Finally, the new rules will strengthen the coordination of audit supervision throughout the Union, with the establishment of the Committee of European Auditing Oversight Bodies (CEAOB). The CEAOB, whose members include national supervisors and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), will help drive supervisory convergence and promote high-quality audits in the Union.

Further information:

Commission memo

Information on practical application of the new EU audit rules