ESMA publishes EU enforcement report with its findings for 2022
ESMA (European Securities and Markets Authority) published on March 29, 2023, a report on the enforcement activities carried out within Europe and the results of the review of compliance with the accounting and reporting requirements applicable in 2022 of the financial statements of companies whose securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market in Europe or are in the process of being admitted.
The national enforcement bodies examined a total of 640 IFRS issuers in 2022 (in 2021: 711 IFRS issuers); this corresponds to approximately 16 % (in 2021: 17 %) of all IFRS issuers. Of these, a total of 425 unlimited scope examinations were performed. The audits resulted in 225 (in 2021: 250) enforcement actions where material departures from IFRS were identified.
As in the past, deficiencies were identified in particular in the following areas concerning accounting and measurement:
- financial instruments (24 %),
- financial statement presentation (13 %),
- impairment of non-financial assets (10 %),
- revenue recognition (8 %) and
- fair value measurement, leases (5 % each).
The main shortcomings in terms of disclosure requirements largely concern the same areas:
- financial statement presentation (16 %),
- financial instruments (15 %),
- impairment losses on non-financial assets (11 %) and
- revenue recognition and segment reporting (9 % each).
The report also contains information on the audit of non-financial reporting. A total of 403 issuers were audited (in 2021: 711 issuers). The audits resulted in 100 enforcement actions (25 %; in 2021: 10 %), relating in particular to disclosures under Article 8 of the Taxonomy Regulation and key performance indicators.
The ESMA enforcement report also addresses ESEF reporting with regard to the presentation of annual financial reports in accordance with the XHTML rules or the labeling of IFRS consolidated financial statements in accordance with the iXBRL rules. The enforcement actions affect 252 issuers.
Note: The full report is available in English on ESMA’s website and can be accessed at the following link: [https://www.esma.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2023-03/ESMA32-63-1385_2022_Corporate_Reporting_Enforcement_and_Regulatory_Activities_Report.pdf].