The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published its annual priorities statement titled European common enforcement priorities for 2022 annual financial reports. That statement sets out the topics which European accounting enforcers believe those charged with governance should particularly consider when preparing, reviewing and auditing International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) financial statements for the year ending 31 December 2022.
ESMA and national accounting enforcers, including IAASA, will scrutinise companies’ accounting for these topics when examining 2022 financial reports.
The following topics are addressed in the ECEP for IFRS financial statements and non-financial statements and in the other considerations related to Alternative Performance Measures (APMs):
| IFRS financial statements priorities | Non-financial statement priorities | Considerations related to APMs | |
| Climate-related matters | X | X | |
| Russia’s invasion of Ukraine | X | ||
| Macroeconomic environment | X | ||
| Taxonomy-related disclosures | X | ||
| Reporting scope and data quality for non-financial reporting | X | ||
| Identification of APMs and reconciliations | X |
The ESMA Common Enforcement Priorities statement should be read in conjunction with IAASA’s 2022 Observations paper which was published earlier this month.