Directive 2012/6 - Amendment of Council Directive 78/660/EEC on the annual accounts of certain types of companies as regards micro-entities - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 81/3

The European Council of 8 and 9 March 2007 underlined in its conclusions that reducing administrative burdens is important for boosting Europe's economy and that a strong joint effort to reduce administrative burdens within the European Union is necessary.

Accounting has been identified as one of the key areas in which administrative burdens for companies within the Union may be reduced.

Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC (3) defines micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. However, consultations with Member States have indicated that the size criteria for micro-enterprises in that Recommendation may be too high for accounting purposes. Therefore, a sub-group of micro-enterprises, so-called "micro-entities", should be introduced to cover companies with lower size criteria for balance sheet total and net turnover than those laid down for micro-enterprises.

Micro-entities are in most cases engaged in business at local or regional level with no or limited cross-border activity. In addition, they play an important role in creating new jobs, fostering research and development and creating new economic activities.

Micro-entities have limited resources with which to comply with demanding regulatory requirements. However, they are often subject to the same financial reporting rules as larger companies. Those rules place on them a burden which is not in proportion to their size and is therefore disproportionate for the smallest enterprises as compared to larger ones. Therefore, it should be possible to exempt micro-entities from certain obligations that may impose on them an unnecessarily onerous administrative burden. However, micro-entities should still be subject to any national obligation to keep records showing their business transactions and financial position.

Given that the numbers of companies to which the size criteria set in this Directive will apply will vary greatly from one Member State to another, and given that the activities of micro-entities have no bearing, or only a limited bearing, on cross-border trade or the functioning of the internal market, Member States should take into account the differing impact of those criteria when implementing this Directive at national level.

Member States should take into account the specific conditions and needs of their own markets when making decisions about how or whether to implement a micro-entity regime within the context of Council Directive 78/660/EEC (4).

Micro-entities must take account of income and charges relating to the financial year, irrespective of the date of receipt or payment of such income or charges. However, the calculation of prepayments and accrued income and accruals and deferred income can be burdensome for micro-entities. Consequently, Member States should be permitted to exempt micro-entities from calculating and presenting such items, only to the extent that such exemption relates to charges other than the cost of raw materials and consumables, value adjustments, staff costs and tax. In this way, the administrative...