Wednesday, 14th May, 2014: In February 2014, the European Securities Markets Authority (‘ESMA’) issued a Consultation Paper ESMA Guidelines on Alternative Performance Measures (2014/175) and invited comments from stakeholders on the questions contained in the Consultation Paper. ESMA will consider the feedback it receives to this consultation in 2014 and expects to publish final Guidelines in the fourth quarter of 2014. IAASA, as the accounting enforcer for Ireland, has responded to the Consultation Paper
IAASA has engaged with issuers on their use of Alternative Performance Measures (‘APM’s) and has received undertakings from issuers in this regard. In 2012, IAASA undertook a Survey on the use of APMs by selected Irish equity issuers. The purpose of the IAASA’s Survey was to identify and describe the most common financial APMs presented in equity issuers’ annual reports and to identify key recommendations which, if applied, should enhance users’ understanding of the performance, financial position and cash flows and enable better comparability across issuers. IAASA published its Paper Alternative Performance Measures – A Survey of their Use together with Key Recommendations in November 2012.
A copy of IAASA’s submission to ESMA may be accessed here.