EU audit reforms delayed

The details of proposals by MEPs in Europe to reform the audit market – which includes plans to place a 70% cap on non-audit fees and strictly limit tax and advisory non-audit services – may not be available until early March according to Harris & Co accountants Northampton.

The MEPs agreed proposals following contentious deliberation which included a breakdown in talks and cancellation of a Trilogue session in early December after politicians failed to reach consensus on which position they should adopt in order to take the reforms forward.

The final proposals - which also sets mandatory rotation at 20 years - were agreed upon in late December, with the main stakeholders given access to the draft document.

According to Jurgita Germanavičienė, a minister counsellor for Lithuania, which held the presidency under which the agreement for audit reform was reached, the document is still undergoing review by linguists and lawyers, and will be finally published in the Official Journal of the European Union in six to eight weeks.

Germanavičienė said: ‘’This issue and the document is out of our hands as the former presidency and it is within the Council Secretariat for the formal finalisation followed by publication of this legislative act.’