The Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) has published a report on the "Transparency Law" and its implications for the financial sector in Luxembourg.
Pursuant to the Law of 11 January 2008 on Transparency requirements for issuers, the CSSF is monitoring that financial information published by issuers, in particular their consolidated and non-consolidated financial statements, is drawn up in compliance with the applicable accounting standards.
In this context, the CSSF has drawn the attention of issuers and auditors on identified financial reporting topics they should particularly consider when preparing and auditing the IFRS financial reports for the 2019 year-end.
As in previous years, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), together with the European national accounting enforcers, including the CSSF, identified European common enforcement priorities (ECEPs) for the 2019 financial reports to which particular attention will be paid when monitoring and assessing the application of IFRS requirements.
In its communication, ESMA also underlined specific requirements relating to the sections of the annual financial report other than financial statements, for instance particular disclosures of non-financial information and specific aspects of the ESMA Guidelines on Alternative Performance Measure.
When establishing its enforcement campaign, the CSSF assessed how to monitor these common priorities defined at European level, and communicated by ESMA, and also considered the need to identify further items of interest. The underlying analysis is based on the following criteria: the importance and relevance of these topics for issuers under the CSSF’s direct supervision; the experience and history of issues encountered by the CSSF during previous campaigns; and the importance of judgements and assumptions to be made by issuers in dealing with these topics.
Thus, the CSSF’s 2020 enforcement campaign will be governed by the following priorities related to IFRS financial statements: the application of IFRS 16 Leases for lessees; a follow up of the application of IFRS 9 Financial Instruments and IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers; specific aspects of application of IAS 12 Income Taxes; valuation of intangible assets acquired in a business combination.
More information on inspections and findings by the CSSF within the framework of its mission under Article 22 (1) of the Transparency Law can be found on the CSSF’s website at http://www.cssf.lu/en/supervision/securities-markets/enforcement/ and in its annual report at http://www.cssf.lu/en/documentation/publications/annual-reports/.
