Communication
Communication about EPSAS takes place with many stakeholders, such as policy makers, governments, auditors, accountancy experts, academia, and other key stakeholders, for example the International public sector accounting standards board (IPSASB), Organisation for economic co-operation and development (OECD), European central bank (ECB), AccountancyEurope, World Bank and International monetary fund (IMF).
The Commission Staff Working Document reporting on the progress on European Public Sector Accounting Standards (EPSAS) summarizes how the services of the Commission have taken forward the EPSAS initiative since the progress report on EPSAS 2019, and contains information on the state of play of, and progress in, public sector accounting in the EU Member States.
Since the 2013 Report from the Commission to the Council and European Parliament (please see “Commission report” below), the Commission has been working on the EPSAS initiative by supporting accrual accounting reforms in EU countries. This has been done in cooperation initially with the Structural Reform Support Service (SRSS) and since 2020 with The Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) and by working on European public sector accounting standards.
The Progress report on EPSAS ( Commission Staff Working Document reporting on the Progress as regards the European Public Sector Accounting Standards (EPSAS)) summarises how the services of the Commission have taken the initiative forward by addressing the issues identified in the 2013 report.
In 2013, the European Commission forwarded its assessment on the suitability of IPSAS for the EU member states to the Council and European Parliament. The report, which is accompanied by a staff working document, is based on information gathered through consultations with Commission services, international organisations, experts from EU members, and other interested parties.
It concludes that, even if IPSAS cannot be implemented in EU countries as it currently stands, the IPSAS standards represent an indisputable reference for potential development of EPSAS, based on a strong EU governance system.
For the full text of the report and the staff working document, please see:
To ensure that all stakeholders might express views, Eurostat has so far held 2 public consultation exercises:
- 2012: Assessment of the suitability of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards for the EU members
Period of consultation: From 17/02/2012 to 11/05/2012 (closed).
The European Commission carried out an assessment on the suitability of IPSAS for EU countries during 2012. Eurostat took the lead on the assessment and launched a public consultation exercise open to all those who would like to contribute to the assessment. The assessment of the suitability of IPSAS for EU members has its origin in the context of the need to strengthen budgetary and fiscal framework for EU countries. It is called for in the Council Directive 2011/85/EU on requirements for budgetary frameworks of the EU members, as adopted by the Council on 8 November 2011.
- 2014: Towards implementing European Public Sector Accounting Standards (EPSAS) for EU Member States - Public consultation on future EPSAS governance principles and structures
Period of consultation: From 25/11/2013 to 17/02/2014 (closed).
The issue of the governance for a future EPSAS was identified as a priority for follow-up after the conference held to discuss the development of EPSAS in Brussels in May 2013. The conference was itself organised to take forward the Commission's report to the Council and the Parliament 'Towards implementing harmonised public sector accounting standards in the Member States: The suitability of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) for the Member States', issued in March 2013.
An EPSAS Conference was held 29-30 May 2013 in Brussels. There Mr Algirdas Šemeta, Commissioner for Taxation, Customs, Statistics, Audit and Anti-fraud, brought together high-level stakeholders and decision makers from public sector accounting, auditing, and statistics to discuss the future development of harmonised government accounting standards in Europe.
Following the keynote speech of Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, the conference discussed the importance of developing economic governance in the context of the current economic situation and the need for transparent and comparable fiscal data and underlying public accounts. It also covered key issues for accounting harmonisation in the EU and examples of the experience of some countries in modernising their public sector accounting and financial reporting. The conference concluded with a roundtable on lessons learned, best practices and the next steps to be taken.
Eurostat also acknowledges the importance of the academic community for EPSAS. Subsequently, 2 general support letters were published in this regard: