New consolidated version: Directive 2006/43/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2006 on statutory audits of annual accounts and consolidated accounts, amending Council Directives 78/660/EEC and 83/349/EEC and repealing Council Directive 84/253/EEC (Text with EEA relevance)Text with EEA relevance

A new consolidated version of Directive 2006/43/EC, the so-called Statutory Audit Directive, was published in the Official Journal (OJ) of the EU. The Directive primarily sets out principles to be observed by statutory auditors when auditing financial accounts of their clients (secrecy, professionalism, objectivity), defines auditors‘ responsibilities particularly in view of firms with multiple subsidiaries in different countries, and outlines the obligations of firms to be audited as far as the appointment of auditors are concerned and the information that must be furnished by the companies to the auditing firm.
This latest consolidated version includes the modifications made by Directive (EU) 2022/2464, the so-called Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), to set out provisions for the issuance of an „assurance opinion“ which must be provided by a qualified audit firm to confirm that the sustainability-related information in the management reports of firms subject to the new CSRD are correct. The CSRD also requires auditors to have adequate knowledge to provide such opinion. Please see EventID 18755 for a detailed description of the upcoming „assurance opinion“ requirements.