Categoria: International update

It includes:

• EC: Results from the public consultation on the sustainable CG initiative
• EC: Commissioner McGuiness’s speech on corporate reporting after Wirecard
• EC: TESG Final Report on SMEs  – Empowering EU Capital Markets
• EC: Taxonomy’s Article 8 draft delegated unveiled
• Letter: NGOs support for the EC plans on Sustainable CG and response to criticism
• EuropeanIssuers: Feedback on the TESG Report on SMEs
• Podcast: The shift to sustainability: A CFO’s journey (Accountancy Europe)
• Report: European Family Business Covid-19 Edition
• Article: Achieving gender balance on executive teams – What works ? (Board Agenda)
• UK: The IoD calling on business to adopt climate-related financial disclosures
• UK: The FRC issued revised auditing standards 
• Germany: NEDs can make climate neutrality a reality (Forbes)
• Guberna: Summer School and International Governance Forum
  ecoDa’s NEWS

  ---

  • ecoDa has published its 2020 Annual Report.
  • 28th May: ecoDa has been represented by Alessandra Stabilini, at the European Family BusinessWeek to discuss Sustainable Corporate Governance;
  • 4th of June: ecoDa’s Policy Committee meeting;
  • 9th of June:
    • ecoDa’s Education Committee meeting;
    • ecoDa/PwC Joint Webinar on “How to approach tax governance as a strategic issue? A discussion for board members” (4.00-5.00pm CET). More information to be found here.
  • SAVE THE DATE:  9th of November: The 2021 EU Corporate Governance Conference under the Slovenian Presidency of the Council, will be organised online by the Slovenian Directors’ Association (a members of ecoDa) and ecoDa, with the support of EY. More information to be released shortly.

    CLICK HERE for the download

Today, due to an increased interest from the society, companies are aware of the importance of behaving in a socially responsible manner and of promoting good tax behaviour. Responsible tax behaviour is an important element of the corporate social responsibility of enterprises and their reputation with their stakeholders is consequently at stake. A growing number of stakeholders, such as investors (via the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment), pension funds, financial regulators and banks, are paying attention to a company’s tax strategy and also take tax behavior into account in investment or financing decisions.

Encouraged by a growing public demand, the European Union, including the Parliament, is moving forward on taxation and the next step could be to harmonise and institutionalise fair taxation and tax responsibility.

That is why the June 9 Webinar will focus on the different tax governance aspects for directors and the need to make it a strategic issue in the board rooms. In order to raise awareness, ecoDa has brought together leading experts to discuss and to guide directors on this essential topic.

Our speakers

– Cristiano Borean, CFO, Generali Group,

– Edwin Visser, Tax policy leader for the EMEA region and of PwC Europe.

To register CLICK HERE.

It Includes:

• EC: Sustainable Finance Package
• Platform on Sustainable Finance
• EP: Structured dialogue with Commissioner Reynders
• EP: Pay Transparency Directive
• Publication: ecoDa’s Corporate Governance Guidance and Principles for Unlisted Companies in Europe
• Guidance: Disclosure and transparency in crisis (IFC)
• Article: Rise of the machines requires a ‘stakeholder approach’ from boards (Board Agenda)
• UK: Restoring Trust in Audit and Corporate Governance – Key proposals
• Luxembourg: Report – Meeting the digital challenges (ILA)
• Norway ramps up commitment to ethical investment (Minerva Analytics)
• Germany: the Parliament expands probe into EY’s audits of Wirecard (Financial Times)

  EVENTS

• EC: A New Compass for SMEs
• Joint EC/ECB Conference
• The ICGN Governance of Sustainability Dialogue

The EU Alert is available for download here.

ecoDa today releases an updated version of its groundbreaking Corporate Governance Guidance and Principles for Unlisted Companies, eleven years after the first edition. This edition has been endorsed by Commissioner Reynders, the OECD, the IFC and European Family Businesses.

With the growing public scrutiny of corporate behaviour and public demand for improved corporate accountability and transparency, ecoDa wanted to revise its principles of good governance for unlisted companies. The new version provides a more modern treatment of the role that ESG issues must play – particularly climate change.

The fourteen principles are still presented from a dynamic phased approach, which takes into account the degree of openness, size, complexity and level of maturity of individual companies.

“In times of crisis, unlisted companies must ensure a solid corporate governance framework – both to overcome the illiquidity risk and maintain access to external sources of financing. Corporate Governance can help businesses ensure their long-term continuity and success. This Guidance plays a crucial role in helping unlisted companies reflect on the potential benefits and costs of various governance approaches”, highlighted Leena Linnainmaa, ecoDa’s Chair.

ecoDa Guidance and Principles are adapted to the specific challenges faced by unlisted companies. It advocates for a proportionate and realistic implementation.

As specified by Roger Barker, co-chair of the Working Group responsible for the drafting, “This set of voluntary Corporate Governance principles makes sense for all European unlisted companies. However, it can serve as a reference for a more specific adaptation to national reality”.

“The new version has been enriched with a self-assessment questionnaire that allows companies to regularly measure their progress on the path to good governance”, added Juan Alvarez-Vijande, co-chair of the same Working Group.

The European Commission has just published today a package of different measures:

The Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) requires certain large companies to report on social, employee and environmental matters, human rights and bribery & corruption. However, the information that is currently reported does not meet the needs of users.

The European Commission is reviewing the NFRD in order to remedy this and to ensure that companies from whom users need non-financial information report such information, and that reported information is relevant, comparable, reliable, and easy to access and use.

The proposal for a Sustainability Reporting Directive is expected to be published in April 2021 for consideration by the European Parliament and the Council.

This high-level conference is an opportunity for interested parties to find out more about the key issues and the objectives of the proposal and of its concrete implications. It will alternate between panels and keynote speeches from European and international leaders in the field of sustainable finance, including Commissioner McGuinness. The panels will address, among other topics, the role of sustainability reporting standards in promoting better sustainability disclosures from companies.

For register CLICK HERE

It Includes:

• EC: Summary Report of the Consultation on the Renewed Sustainable Finance Strategy
• EC: Study on equity funding in the EU 
• EC: Consultation on environmental crime 
• ESMA: Calls for legislative action on ESG ratings
• EP: Measures to protect investors and cut red tape for firms
• Discussion with Colin Mayer: The future of stakeholderism post covid
• Report: Corporate Governance for sustainability 
• The launch of the International Federation of Family Offices
• Black Rock: Climate change as a front and center strategic matter
• Sweden: Report on Corporate Governance and Short-termism
• Event: The governance of technology

It includes:

• EC: Evaluation of the audit framework
• EC: McGuinness’ opening remarks at the ECON Committee structured dialogue 
• EC: Request to ESAs for technical advice on digital finance
• Report: Fraud: recommendations to strenghten the financial reporting ecosystem (Accountancy Europe)
• Summary report: ecoDa-Mazars’s Joint Event “Sustainable Corporate Governance for long-term business success”
• Article: US Corporate Boards suffer from inadequate expertise in financially material ESG matters 
• Podcast: How boards should prepare for the rising cybersecurity threat (McKinsey & Company)
• UK: Directors face new liability demands under major audit reform