On December 14, 2023, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament reached a provisional political agreement on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) in the course of trilogue negotiations. The provisional political agreement will be formally adopted by the Parliament and Council in the coming weeks.

The European Supply Chain Directive will initially affect EU companies with more than 500 employees and a global net annual turnover of at least 150 million euros, as well as companies in certain sectors. Three years after the directive comes into force, large third-country companies with net sales of at least 300 million euros in the European Union will be included. The CSDDD obliges companies to comply with human rights and environmental standards along their global value chain.

Further information can be found in the press release of the European Council and the press release of the European Parliament.

On October 17, 2023, the European Commission adopted a delegated act to raise the thresholds for determining the size classes of companies and groups. This raises the previous thresholds of total assets and turnover by approx. 25%. The thresholds for the size-dependent exemption from the group accounting obligation (Section 293 HGB) will also be increased by 25%. The number of employees remains unchanged.

On September 6, 2023, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published an update to its ESEF reporting manual on the single European electronic format (ESEF Reporting Manual). The last update was made about a year ago.

In a letter dated April 4, 2023, the WPK submitted comments to the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) on its draft of the amended ISA 570 (Revised) Going Concern.

The WPK informed about the most important changes compared to the existing ISA 570 under "New on WPK.de" dated June 7, 2023.

The European Commission adopted the Delegated Act on Set 1 of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) on July 31, 2023. It will enter into force following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

On June 28, 2023, the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) unanimously approved the draft International Standard on Sustainability Assurance (ISSA) 5000. Comments on the draft will be available from early August to early December 2023.

The IAASB issued Proposed International Standard on Auditing 570 (Revised), Going Concern, a draft of amended ISA 570 on going concern on April 26, 2023. Comments are requested by August 24, 2023.

Adoption of the revised standard is expected in December 2024. The effective date is proposed to be at least 18 months after adoption. Thus, in the case of fiscal years with the same calendar year, the amendments would affect annual and consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2027 for the first time.

The main changes compared to the existing ISA 570 are:

WPK submitted an opinion on the European Commission’s Proposal for a Directive Harmonising Certain Aspects of Insolvency law to the Federal Ministry of Justice on 27 February 2023 and to the European Commission on 13 March 2023, and made two demands:

In its meeting of 25 January 2023, the Executive Board of the Chamber of Public Accountants (WPK) dealt with the transposition of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) into German law for the first time.

The discussions focussed on the member states’ voting rights, the exercise of which has to be seen as setting the course for further implementation. The Executive Board has formed an opinion on these voting rights and summarised it in a position paper.

The European Commission is currently conducting a consultation on the Proposal for a directive on the definition of criminal offences and penalties for violations of Union restrictive measures. In the opinion of the Commission, the classification of a violation of European law on restrictive measures of the European Union as a criminal offence differs greatly in the legal systems of the member states. This and the maximum length of prison sentences and fines should now be harmonised.

Public/chartered accountants are currently affected due to the prohibition on providing auditing, accounting and tax advice services to Russian companies according to Art. 5n of Regulation (EU) 833/2014.

The Federal Ministry of Justice has just published a Framework Paper on Strengthening Courts in Economic Disputes and Introducing Commercial Courts (in German). Public accountants or chartered auditors could be affected by the plan if they appear before civil courts as expert witnesses.

The aim of the plan is to permanently strengthen Germany as a place for justice and business. 

On 24 January 2023, the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) published the draft of a section on auditing a group financial statement within the proposed audit standard for less complex entities (LCE) Proposed Part 10, Audits of Group Financial Statements of the Proposed International Standard on Auditing for Audits of Financial Statements of Less Complex Entities (ISA for LCE). Positions are requested by 2 May 2023.

The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) is organising four round tables on the subject of sustainability in late March/early April 2023 (times not yet known):

• 24 March 2023, Paris
• 30 March 2023, Sydney
• 3 April 2023, Singapore
• 6 April 2023, New York

After the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive – CSRD, 2022/2464/EU was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 16 December 2022, it entered into force on 5 January 2023. The previous CSR Directive (Directive 2014/95/EU) has therefore been replaced.

The WPK participated in the Federal Ministry of Justice’s public consultation on the Drafts of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) and commented on them on 21 December 2022.

The European Federation of Accountants and Auditors for small and medium-sized enterprises (EFAA for SMEs) has developed guidelines to give members of the profession an overview of the subject of sustainability reporting and makes proposals for how to react quickly to the current challenges. It also contains useful tips for how public/chartered accountancy firms can prepare to support their clients when compiling sustainability reports.

• Sustainability Reporting - How SMPs Can Build the Capacity to Support SMEs? (PDF)
• What SMEs and SMPs need to know aboput Sustainability Reporting (PDF)