Vous trouverez, ci-dessous, un résumé préparé par ecoDa qui fait le point sur l’avancement des travaux du comité des affaires juridiques de la Commission européenne. Le comité prépare un énoncé de loi qui ouvrira la voie à une meilleure règlementation du marché européen de l’audit ainsi qu’à une amélioration de la qualité et de la transparence de l’audit. Le texte présente une synthèse des efforts du comité (en anglais, langue de EU).
« The role of auditors has been called into question due to the financial crisis. « We need to win back the confidence of investors, who are looking for high-quality and independent auditing to give them the assurance that they need when investing in Europe’s companies », said Sajjad Karim (ECR, UK), who is responsible for the audit reform package.
Better quality :
The law would require auditors in the EU to publish audit reports according to international auditing standards. For auditors of public-interest entities (PIEs), such as banks, insurance companies and listed companies, the committee agreed that audit firms would have to provide shareholders and investors with a detailed understanding of what the auditor did and an overall assurance of the accuracy of the company’s accounts.
Press room of the European Commission inside the Berlaymont building, Brussels. Taken on EU open day 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Competition and transparency :
As part of a series of measures to open up the market and improve transparency, the committee backed the proposed prohibition of « Big 4-only » contractual clauses requiring that the audit be done by one of these firms.
PIEs would be obliged to issue a call for tenders when selecting a new auditor. To ensure that relations between the auditor and the audited company do not become too cosy, MEPs approved a mandatory rotation rule whereby an auditor may inspect a company’s books for a maximum 14 years, which could be increased to 25 years if safeguards are put in place. The Commission had proposed 6 years, but a majority in committee judged that this would be a costly and unwelcome intervention in the audit market.
Independence of non-auditing services :
To preclude conflicts of interest and threats to independence, EU audit firms would be required to abide by rules mirroring those in effect internationally. Most committee members saw the proposed general prohibition on offering non-auditing services as counterproductive for audit quality. They agreed that only non-auditing services that could jeopardise independence should be prohibited. They also approved a list of services that would be prohibited under the new law.
For instance, auditing firms would be able to continue providing certification of compliance with tax requirements, but prohibited from supplying tax advisory services which directly affect the company’s financial statements and may be subject to question by national tax authorities ».
Enfin de bonnes nouvelles pour toutes les diplômées des programmes de formation en gouvernance dans le monde !
Fin de l’impasse et proposition unanime de la Commission Européenne (CE) eu égard à la représentation des femmes sur les C.A. européens
Les membres de la CE, se sont entendus, aujourd’hui, sur l’établissement d’un objectif de 40 % de personnes du sexe « sous-représenté » sur les conseils d’administration des 5 000 compagnies publiques de l’Union européenne, d’ici 2020. La directive est applicable aux membres non-exécutifs des C.A. En ce qui a trait aux membres exécutifs, la commission propose une mesure complémentaire, un « flexi-quota », c’est-à-dire une obligation pour les compagnies publiques de se fixer des cibles eu égard à la représentation des deux sexes pour les membres exécutifs des C.A. d’ici 2020, et de faire état des progrès sur une base annuelle.
English: European Commissioner Viviane Reding (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
On le sait, c’est sous l’impulsion de la commissaire Mme Viviane Reding que cette directive voit le jour même si plusieurs commissaires, dont cette dernière, ont mis de l’eau dans leur vin. En effet, la directive ne parle plus de « quotas » mais plutôt de « cibles » à atteindre… selon certains critères énumérés dans l’extrait de la directive ci-dessous :
The Directive sets a minimum objective of 40% by 2020 for members of the under-represented sex for non-executive members of the boards of publicly listed companies in Europe, or 2018 for listed public undertakings.
The proposal also includes, as a complementary measure, a « flexi quota » : an obligation for listed companies to set themselves individual, self-regulatory targets regarding the representation of both sexes among executive directors to be met by 2020 (or 2018 in case of public undertakings). Companies will have to report annually on the progress made.
Qualification and merit will remain the key criteria for a job on the board. The directive establishes a minimum harmonisation of corporate governance requirements, as appointment decisions will have to be based on objective qualifications criteria. Inbuilt safeguards will make sure that there is no unconditional, automatic promotion of the under-represented sex. In line with the European Court of Justice’s case law on positive action, preference shall be given to the equally qualified under-represented sex, unless an objective assessment taking into account all criteria specific to the individual candidates tilts the balance in favour of the candidate of the other sex. Member States that already have an effective system in place will be able to keep it provided it is equally efficient as the proposed system in attaining the objective of a presence of 40% of the under-represented sex among non-executive directors by 2020. And Member States remain free to introduce measures that go beyond the proposed system.
Member States will have to lay down appropriate and dissuasive sanctions for companies in breach of the Directive.
Subsidiarity and Proportionality of the proposal : The 40% objective applies to publicly listed companies, due to their economic importance and high visibility. The proposal does not apply to small and medium enterprises. The 40% objective is focused on non-executive director posts. In line with better regulation principles, the Directive is a temporary measure and is set to expire in 2028.
The Commission’s proposal will now pass to the European Parliament and Council of the European Union (representing Member States’ national governments) for consideration under the normal legislative procedure (also known as ‘co-decision procedure’ between the two institutions who decide on an equal footing, with the Council voting by qualified majority and the European Parliament voting by simple majority).
The proposal has been signed by all commissioners with economic portofolio.
As mentioned today by Viviane Reding: “it is a historic day for gender equality”. “We need both gender on boards to make the difference”. “This is a strong answer to the European parliament and the national parliaments which have asked for a proposal”.
Enfin, il a été convenu que d’ici le 12 décembre 2012, toute les grandes écoles d’administration européennes (Major Business Schools) rendront publiques une base de données contenant 7 500 noms de femmes possédant les qualifications requises et les capacités manégériales pour siéger sur des conseils d’administration de compagnies publiques.
Vous trouverez, ci-dessous, (1) le communiqué de presse de la Commission Européenne (en anglais, car c’est la langue de la commission), (2) un article paru dans Le Monde ce matin et (3) un article de la professeure de Leadership à EDHEC Global MBA, Monique Valcour, paru dans le blogue de la Harvard Business Review . Celle-ci commente sur les quotas de 40 % de représentation féminine sur les C.A . de corporation européennes.
Gouvernance | Jacques Grisé 