Audit Policy (Green Paper)
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Single Market & Competition

Audit Policy (Green Paper)

The Commission submits a Green Paper in order to discuss the future role and scope of an audit in the “general context of financial market regulatory reform”. Governance rules and an improved supervision are to contribute to more competition and increased stability in the financial system.

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Status

In order to maintain the quality of audits, existing supervision rules and sanctions suffice. It is not necessary to put audit assignments out for public tender or to ban consulting services. There are no convincing arguments to justify the Commission’s interfering with the structure of the auditor market. Disclosure requirements and ceilings for the admissible turnover share of individual clients of audit firms cannot increase the independence of auditors. Contingency and resolution plans are not necessary, since audit firms have no systemic relevance. 

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Audit Policy COM(2010) 561 (publ. 07.01.2014) PDF 99 KB Download
Audit Policy COM(2010) 561