ESMA issues its 2021 Corporate Reporting Enforcement and Regulatory Report
30 March 2022
The Report, with the aim of promoting investor protection, provides transparency and accountability to the market with an overview of the activities carried out by ESMA and enforcers on financial and non-financial information.
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets regulator, has today published its 2021 Corporate Reporting Enforcement and Regulatory Report.
ESMA makes recommendations to issuers and auditors to improve future
financial and non-financial reports, by assessing how issuers comply
with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and
non-financial reporting obligations and adhere to ESMA’s
recommendations.
Key figures:
- 711 examinations of financial statements drawn up under IFRS,
covering approximately 17% of issuers listed on European Union (EU)
regulated markets. The examinations led to enforcement actions against
250 issuers in order to address material departures from IFRS,
representing an action rate of 40%;
- 537 management reports were examined to assess whether the
presentation and disclosure of alternative performance measures (APM)
complied with ESMA’s APM Guidelines, covering 13% of all IFRS listed
issuers in the EU. Based on these examinations, enforcement actions were
taken in relation to 97 issuers, constituting an action rate of 18%;
and
- European enforcers examined non-financial statements of 711 issuers,
36% of the total estimated number of issuers required to publish a
non-financial statement, to assess disclosures in non-financial
statements. Related enforcement actions against 72 issuers represented
an action rate of 10%.
The majority of the enforcement actions concerned disclosures to be corrected in the future financial statements.
Next steps
ESMA expects issuers, audit committees and auditors to consider the
conclusions and recommendations of the report when preparing and
auditing financial reports. In 2022, ESMA and the European enforcers
will focus on ensuring that adequate transparency is provided regarding
the enforcement priorities outlined in its 2021 European Common Enforcement Priorities Statement.
ESMA
© ESMA
