ESMA Guidelines on Alternative Performance Measures

13 February 2014

ESMA is issuing this consultation paper to inform market participants about the background to its decision to revise the CESR Recommendation and seek their views on such revision. Comments should be submitted by 14 May, 2014.

In October 2005, the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR), ESMA’s predecessor body, published a Recommendation on Alternative Performance Measures (“CESR Recommendation” CESR/05-178b). The CESR Recommendation was issued mainly in order to reinforce the objectives of Regulation (EC) No 1606/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 July 2002 on the application of international accounting standards.

Given the CESR Recommendation has now been in force for more than eight years, ESMA has decided to review it with the objective of strengthening the principles contained in it. ESMA now plans to re-issue the principles as ESMA [draft] guidelines thus ensuring that issuers and NCAs will make every effort to com-ply with them.

ESMA is issuing this Consultation Paper (CP) to inform market participants about the background to its decision to revise the CESR Recommendation and seek their views on such revision.

• Section II “Introduction” indicates the reasons for which ESMA believes that these [draft] guidelines on APMs should be issued.
• Section III “Scope and purpose of the [draft] guidelines” indicates when the [draft] guidelines apply and how these [draft] guidelines interact with financial statements.
• Section IV “Compliance and reporting obligations” describes how issuers and NCAs should comply with the [draft] guidelines.
• Section V “[Draft] Guidelines on APMs (Background)” describes the rationale followed in preparing the [draft] guidelines and explanations on the principles provided, which are included in full in Annex III.

Comments should be submitted by 14 May, 2014. ESMA will consider the feedback it receives to this consultation in 2014 and expects to publish final guide-lines in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Full press release

Consultation paper

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