Financial auditor

GOVERNMENT OF ROMANIA Ministry of Education

European Union

GOVERNMENT OF ROMANIA Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Protection

and Elderly MASOPHRD

European Social Fund SOP HRD 2007-2013

Structural Instruments 2007 - 2013

Project co financed by the European Social Fund

Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development

2007 - 2013

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http://www.imipqnet.ro

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EUROPEAN SOCIAL FUND

Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2007 - 2013

Priority Axis 3 "Increasing adaptability of workers and enterprises"

Key Area of Intervention 3.3 " Development of partnerships and encouraging initiatives for

social partners and civil society."

Project Title: “Network of Competent Authorities for Professional Qualifications in Romania

(IMI PQ NET Romania)"

Beneficiary: Ministry of National Education

Contract no. POSDRU/93/3.3/S/53132

GUIDE ON COMPETENCE CERTIFICATION AND QUALIFICATION RECOGNITION

FOR THE FINANCIAL AUDITOR PROFESSION

Author: Dr. Irina Dumitriu

July 2013


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION..............……………………………………………...…………………….3

1. REGULATORY SITUATION IN ROMANIA AND OTHER EU MS OF THE

FINANCIAL AUDITOR PROFESSION………...…………………………………………....5

2. COMPETENCES CERTIFICATION PROCEDURES APPLIED BY THE CA IN THE

ANALYZED COUNTRIES.....................................................................................................18

3. RECOGNITION PROCESSES FOR QUALIFICATIONS ACQUIRED IN OTHER EU

MS IN ORDER TO PRACTICE THE FINANCIAL AUDITOR

PROFESSION...........................................................................................................................22

4. EXERCISE OF THE FINANCIAL AUDITOR PROFESSION IN THE EU......…...…….32

5. CONCLUSIONS.…………………………………………………………………………..37

BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………….39

ABBREVIATIONS...………………………………………………………………………...41

USEFUL LINKS……………………………………………………………………………...44


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INTRODUCTION

The Guidelines on competence certification and qualification recognition for the financial

auditor profession is one of the results of the “Network of Competent Authorities for

Professional Qualifications in Romania (IMI PQ NET Romania) Project” implemented by the

Ministry of National Education (MEN) in partnership with the National Qualifications

Authority (ANC) and the Institute for Social Policy (IPS), co-financed by the European Social

Fund through the Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2007-

2013 (SOP HRD)

Within the IMI PQ NET Romania project there have been analyzed, together with the

competent authorities (CA) members of the project working group, the procedures for

validation and certification of competences and qualifications recognition processes for each

regulated profession separately and, on that basis, there have been developed standard scheme

for validation / certification of competences procedure and for the qualifications recognition

process for corresponding regulated professions. The final result of these activities is the

paper "Standard guiding terms of reference for the procedures validation and certification of

competences and qualifications recognition processes", which can be accessed

at…………………………………………………………

This paper includes the basic terminology (definitions of terms used also in the guidelines)

and standardization schemes for the certification of competences and qualifications

recognition processes and therefore it was the basis for the elaboration a number of 30

guidelines for certification and recognition for different regulated professions, guidelines

aimed at supporting CA from Romania in their efforts to standardize these procedures and

processes by informing them about the practices of counterparts CA from other Member

States (MS) of the EU.

However, each individual guideline will address individuals which have acquired

qualifications in the respective areas of activity in Romania and want to practice the

profession in one of the EU MS presented in the guide.

The analysis was performed for Romania and another 8 EU MS (Austria, Czech Republic,

Denmark, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, Netherlands and Spain), but the guidelines also

includes some general information resulting from researching the database with regulated

professions from all MS of the EU, the European Economic Area (EEA) and the Swiss

Confederation, developed by the European Commission (EC) Directorate General for Single

Internal Market (DG Internal Market) (http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/

regprof/index.cfm?newlang =en). The authors of the guidelines have studied the European

legislation and of the respective states regarding the acquiring of qualifications, education and

vocational training system, types of documents for competences certification (diplomas,

certificates, certificates of competency, professional titles), regulations regarding the

recognition of qualifications and the regulated professions under Directive 2005/36/EC on

recognition of professional qualifications. In the case of some EU MS analyzed (Denmark,

Germany, Italy, UK, Netherlands and Spain); there have been organized study visits with the

participation of the representatives of IMI PQ NET Ro Network members established within

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/%20regprof/index.cfm?newlang%20=en

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/%20regprof/index.cfm?newlang%20=en


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the project, and also MEN and ANC experts. During the visits, meetings were organized with

representatives of the national CA but also CA which manages various regulated professions;

occasions on which the guidelines authors were able to gather more specific information from

the source.

In conclusion, the realization of the Guidelines on competence certification and qualification

recognition for the financial auditor profession aims to:

• supporting the Chamber of Financial Auditors of Romania (CAFR) standardization efforts

of the certification procedure / granting the financial auditor professional title and recognition

of the qualifications for this regulated profession which is managed by it, through its

information about counterparts CA practices from other MS;

• inform all persons who have acquired the financial auditor qualification in Romania and

wish to perform financial audits in one of the EU MS presented in the guide.


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1. REGULATORY SITUATION IN ROMANIA AND IN THE OTHER EU MS OF THE

FINANCIAL AUDITOR PROFESSION

The current European regulatory framework on the recognition of professional qualifications

acquired in EU MS is composed primarily by the Directive 2005/36/EC of the European

Parliament and of the Council of 7 September 2005 on the recognition of professional

qualifications but also by a number of sectoral directives in the case of some professions that

are not covered or are covered only in some specific situations by the Directive 2005/36/EC

(such as, for example, the Directive 2006/43/EC on statutory audits in the case of the financial

auditor profession, Directive 2002/92/EC in the case of from insurance intermediaries or

directives 1977/249/CEE and 1998/5/CE for lawyers).

The Directive 2005/36/EC establishes a system for recognition of professional qualifications

in order to improve the EU labor market flexibility, to continue liberalization of the provision

of services (Directive 2006/123/EC on the free movement of services), to encourage

automatic recognition of qualifications and simplify the administrative procedures. This

directive applies to all European citizens who wish to exercise a regulated profession either as

self-employed or as an employee in other MS than that in which they obtained their

professional qualifications and make distinction between "freedom to provide services "and"

freedom of establishment” based on criteria such as duration, frequency, regularity and

continuity of service provision.

From the point of view of the way in which can be done the recognition of professional

qualifications covered by it, the Directive 2005/36/EC covers the following recognition

systems:

• The automatic recognition system of certified qualifications by professional experience in

certain industrial, craft and commercial activities – activities which are listed in Chapter II,

for which the items taken into account for the recognition of professional experience are the

length and its type (self-employed basis or as an employee) and prior formation (item that

may reduce the length of necessary professional experience) proven by a certificate

recognized by the Member State or considered valid by a professional body, and the

conditions to exercise mentioned in the lists for the various groups sectors and activities listed

in Annex IV of the Directive;

• The system of automatic recognition of qualifications for the professions of doctor, nurse,

dentist, veterinary surgeon, midwife, pharmacist and architect - professions referred to in

Chapter III, for which automatic recognition of qualifications is based on the coordination of

the minimum training conditions, including minimum duration of studies, evidence of formal

qualifications referred to in Annexes V and VI to Directive;

• The general system for qualifications recognition - system which applies to professions that

are not regulated by specific rules of recognition and to certain situations in which the holder

of professional qualification does not meet the conditions set out in other recognition systems

,system based on the principle of mutual recognition, without prejudice application of


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compensatory measures when there are significant differences between the training acquired

by the person concerned and the necessary training in the host MS (adaptation period no more

than three years or aptitude tests).

In terms of the qualifications level subject to the general system of recognition, the Directive

2005/36/EC distinguish five levels of professional qualifications:

an attestation of competence issued by a competent authority in the home Member

State, certifying either that the holder has acquired general knowledge corresponding

to secondary or high school education, or a training course not forming part of a

certificate or diploma, or a specific examination without prior training, or full-time

pursuit of the profession for three consecutive years;

certificate attesting to a successful completion of technical or professional or general

secondary education supplemented by professional training;

diploma certifying successful completion of training at post-secondary level duration

of at least one year or training which prepares the trainee for an comparable level of

responsibilities and functions;

diploma certifying that the holder has successfully completed training of post-

secondary or university level of at least three and not more than four years' duration;

diploma certifying that the holder has successfully completed training of post-

secondary or university level of at least four years' duration.

The regulated professions in the field of financial audit fall under the qualifications

recognition general system, qualification level certifying successful completion of

training at post-secondary education, university education of 3-4 years or at least four

years.

As in the case of all the other European directives, all the EU MS were obliged to comply

with the Directive 2005/36/EC trough its transposition into national legislation. Therefore, the

relevant information on the procedure and the rules for the recognition processes valid in each

MS are contained in the national legislation through which it was transposed the Directive

2005/36/EC and can be obtained from the National Contact Points (National Contact Points)

for qualifications recognition, which all Member States were obliged to establish (they are

listed on http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/contact/national_contact_points_en.htm).

In the case of the statutory financial audit activity, this is a regulated activity in all EU MS by

the Directive 2006/43/EC on statutory audits of annual accounts and consolidated accounts.

Moreover, the Directive 2005/36/EC explicitly states1: “This Directive applies, concerning

the right of establishment and the provision of services, without prejudice to other specific

legal provisions regarding the recognition of professional qualifications, such as those

existing in the field of transport, insurance intermediaries and statutory auditors”.

1 Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications p. 7, (42), at

http://www.umftgm.ro/fileadmin/consultare_publica/bibliografie/Directiva_2036_2005_20privind_20recunoaste

rea_20calificarilor.pdf

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/contact/national_contact_points_en.htm

http://www.umftgm.ro/fileadmin/consultare_publica/bibliografie/Directiva_2036_2005_20privind_20recunoasterea_20calificarilor.pdf

http://www.umftgm.ro/fileadmin/consultare_publica/bibliografie/Directiva_2036_2005_20privind_20recunoasterea_20calificarilor.pdf


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Within the Directive 2006/43/EC, the provisions relating to the qualifications required for

evaluation / examination of professional competence, continuous vocational training (CVT)

and systems for investigation and for penalty of non conformity with the qualification

requirements and continuous training are the following2:

A natural person may be approved to carry out a statutory audit only after having

attained university entrance or equivalent level, then completed a course of theoretical

instruction, undergone practical training and passed an examination of professional

competence of university final or equivalent examination level, organized or

recognized by the Member State concerned(art.6); the Member State may approve a

person who does not satisfy these conditions, if he or she can demonstrate either that

he or she has been employed, for 15 years, in professional activities which have

enabled him or her to acquire sufficient experience in the fields of finance, law and

accountancy, and has passed the examination of professional competence or that he or

she has, for seven years, engaged in professional activities in those fields and has, in

addition, undergone the practical training and passed the examination of professional

competence(art.11);

The examination of professional competence guarantees the necessary level of

theoretical knowledge of subjects relevant to statutory audit and the ability to apply

such knowledge in practice. Part at least of that examination shall be written. (art.7);

In order to ensure the ability to apply theoretical knowledge in practice, a test of which

is included in the examination, a trainee shall complete a minimum of three years'

practical training in, inter alia, the auditing of annual accounts, consolidated accounts

or similar financial statements. At least two thirds of such practical training shall be

completed with a statutory auditor or audit firm approved in any Member State. (art.

10)

Member States ensure that statutory auditors are required to take part in appropriate

programs of continuing education in order to maintain their theoretical knowledge,

professional skills and values at a sufficiently high level, and that failure to respect the

continuing education requirements is subject to appropriate penalties(art.13);

Member States ensure that there are effective systems of investigations and penalties

to detect, correct and prevent inadequate execution of the statutory audit and, without

prejudice to Member States' civil liability regimes, the penalties are effective,

proportionate and dissuasive, including the possibility of the withdrawal of approval,

and are appropriately disclosed to the public (art.30).

Other European Directives of relevance in the financial audit are the Services Directive

2006/123/EC and Directive 2005/60/EC on measures to combat money laundering.

According to the National Classification of Economic Activities (NACE), financial audit

services are part of the same group of economic activities as the accounting and the tax

consultancy (group 692 - Accounting and auditing activities, tax consultancy) , group which,

together with the group 691 - legal activities, form the division 69 - legal and accounting

2 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 JO L 157, 9.06.2006, p.87


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activities. Therefore, in terms of the activities of various regulated professions reserved for

services in NACE group 692, in practice there is much interference between the professions

of accounting, the financial audit and tax consulting, different from one country to another.

There are quite a few countries with distinct professions on the three areas of activity

(between those analyzed in this guide, only Romania and the Czech Republic, but in the

Czech Republic the accounting professions are not regulated, but only the profession of

statutory auditor and tax consultant), in other countries, although they are distinct regulated

professions, there is only one AC to which all holders of professional qualifications from

accounting, auditing and tax consulting are required to be members (e.g. Austria until 1

January 2013, when the accounting professions regulated were transferred to another AC), in

other countries the professions are named with the term "accountant", but they is regulated

only for the activity exclusively reserved for statutory auditing, while accounting activities are

reserved to the respective professions (e.g. the Netherlands). In addition, all the identified

studies and used as an information resource deals the professions in NACE group 692

together as accounting professions. In fact, in terms of knowledge necessary to practice the

professions related to NACE group 692, all these professions have a common base (hence

FEE - Fédération des Experts-comptables Européens / Federation of European Accountants /

Federation of European Accountants - treated in his paper "Structure and Organization of the

accountancy profession " both the actual accounting professions and the professions of

financial auditor and tax consultant in the countries where the latter is a distinct regulated

profession), .

For the same reason, in the IMI system - the electronic platform for the exchange of

information between EU MS AC, SEE and the Swiss Confederation towards the mutual

recognition of professional qualifications, there are several generic categories of regulated

professions falling under NACE group 692 - accounting activities and financial audit, tax

consultancy, categories of occupations where some of EU MS have chosen to enroll their

regulated professions in the financial audit: accountant-lawyer (accountant - lawyer), auditor /

accountant (auditor / accountant ), Company auditor (Company auditor), public finance

accountant (public finance accountant) accountant / tax advisor (accountant / tax advisor).

In Table 1.1 is given only the situation of financial audit regulated professions that have been

submitted by the MS to the CE database, extracted by the author from all the generic

categories listed above, in which 25 MS of EEA and Swiss Confederation registered 39

professions that was reserved primarily for the financial audit activity:


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Table 1.1

The regulated professions in the field of financial audit registered by the MS of EU, EEA and

Swiss Confederation in the IMI system

MS

Name of the profession in the

MS / generic category in

English / Romanian translation

Name of CA Qualification level

ROMANIA Financial auditor / Company

auditor

Chamber of Financial Auditors of Romania

(CAFR) www.cafr.ro

PS3 - Post-secondary diploma (3-

4years) , Article 11 d

AUSTRIA

Beeideter Wirtschaftsprüfer/

Certified Public Accountant /contabil certificat şi auditor

Kammer der Wirtschaftstreuhänder (KWT)/

Chamber of Public accountants

www.kwt.or.at

PS3 - Post-secondary diploma (3-4years) , Article 11 d

BELGIUM

Reviseur d’entreprise/ bedrijfsrevisor/

Auditor/accountant/ auditor de

firmă

SPF Economie, P.M.E., Classes moyennes et Energie, Direction générale de la régulation

et de l’organisation du marché, Service audit,

droit comptable, coopératives/ Federal Public Service Economy, SMEs, Self-employed and

Energy – General Directorate for regulation

and market organization, audit, accounting law, cooperative unit



BULGARIA

Дипломиран експерт-

счетоводител (одитор)/

Auditor/accountant/ Expert contabil diplomat (auditor)

Institute of Certified Public Accountants/

Institute of Certified Public Accountants



Одитор по смисъла на Закона

за Сметната палата/ accountant-lawyer/

Auditor în cf. cu Legea Oficiului

Naţional de Audit

Court of Audit/ Court of Audit

Вътрешен одитор в публичния сектор/ Public finance

accountant/ auditor intern în

sectorul public

Ministry of Finance/ Ministry of Finance

Одитор на специфични одитни

дейности по фондове и

програми на Европейския

съюз/ Public finance accountant/

auditor pentru programe finanţate

din fonduri UE

Служител в Централно

хармонизиращо звено за вътрешен одит/ Public finance

accountant/ angajat în Internal

Central Harmonization Unit Division

CZECH REPUBLIC

Auditorské služby /

Auditor/accountant/ servicii de audit

Czech Chamber of Auditors/ Czech Chamber of Auditors www.kacr.cz


CYPRUS Λογιστής/ Auditor/accountant/

Contabil (auditor)

Institute of Certified Public Accountants of

Cyprus/ Institute of Certified Public

Accountants of Cyprus

www.icpac.org.cy



http://www.cafr.ro/

http://www.kwt.or.at/

http://www.kacr.cz/

http://www.icpac.org.cy/


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MS





DENMARK

Statsautoriseret revisor/

Auditor/accountant/ Contabil

public autorizat de stat

Erhvervsstyrelsen/ Danish Commerce and Companies Agency/ Agenţia Daneză pentru

Comert şi Firme

www.erst.dk


4years) , Article 11 d Registrered revisor/

Auditor/accountant/ Contabil

public înregistrat

SWITZERLAND

Réviseur/ Revisor/ Company

auditor/ auditor

Federal Audit Oversight Authority (FAOA)/

Autoritatea Federală de Supraveghere a

Auditului

unspecified

Réviseur de SA (selon critère art.

727b CO)/ Revisoren für AG

(Kriterien gemäss Art. 727b OR)

/ Company auditor/ Auditor de societăţi pe acţiuni (cf. art. 727b

CO)

FINLAND

Julkishallinnon ja talouden

tilintarkastaja/revisor inom den

offentliga förvaltningen och ekonomin/ Public finance

accountant/ auditor


GERMANY

Wirtschaftsprüfer/

Auditor/accountant/ contabil

public

Wirtschaftsprüfer-kammer (WPK)/ Chamber

of Public Accountants


GREECE

Orkotós logistís/ Auditor/accountant/ contabil

public certificat

The Institute of Certified Public Accountants

of Greece (SOEL)/ Institutul Contabililor

Publici Certificaţi din Grecia



HUNGARY

okleveles könyvvizsgáló/

Auditor/accountant/ auditor

statutar

Chamber of Hungarian Auditors (MKVK) /

Camera Auditorilor Maghiari



IRELAND

Chartered and certified

accountants and other professional accountants registered as auditors/

Auditor/accountant/ contabili autorizaţi şi certificaţi şi alţi

contabili înregistraţi ca auditori

The Irish Auditing and Accounting

Supervisory Authority (IAASA)/Autoritatea Irlandeză de Supraveghere a Auditului şi

Contabilităţii

[email protected]


4years) , Article 11 d Chartered accountant/

Accountant/tax advisor/ contabil

autorizat

Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland/

Institutul Contabililor Autorizaţi în Irlanda

www.icai.ie

Certified public accountant/ Public finance accountant/

contabil public certificat

Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland/ Institutul Contabililor Publici

Certificaţi în Irlanda

www.cpaireland.ie

ICELAND

Löggiltur endurskoðandi/ Tax

advisor/accountant/ contabil

certificat

Ministry of Finance/ Ministerul Finanţelor



ITALY

Revisore legale/

Auditor/accountant/

Auditor legal

Ministry of Economy and Finance/Min.

Economiei şi Finanţelor

http://www.erst.dk/

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.icai.ie/

http://www.cpaireland.ie/


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MS





Revisore contabile/

Auditor/accountant/ auditor

contabil

Professional Order of Accountants and

Commercial Law Experts/Ordinul

Profesional al Contabililor şi Experţilor în Drept Comercial



LATVIA

Zvērināts revidents/ Auditor/accountant/ auditor

certificat

Latvian Association of Certified Auditors (LZRA)/ Asociaţia Letonă a Auditorilor

Certificaţi



LUXEMBOURG

Reviseur d’entreprise/

Auditor/accountant/ auditor de

firmă

Institut des Raviseurs d’Entreprises (IRE)/

Enterprise Auditors Institute

Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF)/ Financial Sector

Supervisory Commission



MALTA Auditor/ Auditor/accountant/ Auditor

Accountancy Board/Consiliul Contabilităţii


UNITED KINGDOM

Chartered accountant/

Auditor/accountant/ contabil

autorizat

Institute of Chartered Accountants in

England and Wales (ICAEW)/ Institutul

Contabililor Autorizaţi din Anglia şi Tara Galilor

Institute of Chartered Accountants of

Scotland (ICAS)/ Institutul Contabililor Autorizaţi din Scoţia

www.icas.org.uk

Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI)/ Institutul Contabililor Autorizaţi în

Irlanda

www.icae.ie


Chartered Certified Accountant/

Auditor/accountant/ contabil autorizat certificat

Association of Chartered Certified

Accountants (ACCA)/Asociaţia Contabililor Autorizaţi Certificaţi

www.accaglobal.com

NORWAY

Registrert revisor/ Auditor/accountant/ auditor

înregistrat

Kredittilsynet/ Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway

www.kredittilsynet.no PS3 - Post-secondary diploma (3-


Statsautorisert revisor/ Auditor/accountant/ auditor

autorizat de stat

PSM – Post-secondary diploma (over 4 yers) , Article 11 e

NEDERLANDS

Accountant – administratieconsulent/

Auditor/accountant şi la

Accountant/tax advisor /consultant în contabilitate

(învăţământ superior politechnic

–profesional)

NBA Institute (formal professional bodies Nederlandse

Orde van Accountants

Administratieconsulenten- NovAA/ The Netherlands Accounting Consultants Order +

Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut van

Registeraccountants – NIVRA/ Royal Institute of Registered Accountants)


4years) , Article 11 d Registeraccountant/

Auditor/accountant şi la

Accountant/tax advisor Contabil certificat

(învăţământ superior universitar –

academic)

POLAND

Audytorwewnętrzny / Internal

auditor/ auditor intern

Minister Finansów/ Ministry of Finance

www.mf.gov.pl

PSM- Post-secondary diploma (more than 4 years ), Art.11 e Biegły rewident / Auditor

Krajowa Izba Bieglych Rewidentów/

Auditors chamber

http://www.icas.org.uk/

http://www.icae.ie/

http://www.accaglobal.com/

http://www.kredittilsynet.no/

http://www.mf.gov.pl/


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MS





PORTUGAL

Revisor oficial de contas/

Auditor/accountant/ Auditor

oficial de conturi

Ordem dos Revisores Officiais de Contas/ The Order of the official auditor of Accounts

www.oroc.pt



SLOVENIA

Državni notranji revizor/ Auditor/accountant/ auditor

intern de stat

Ministrstvo za Finance/ Ministry of Finance www.mf.gov.si


4years) , Article 11 d Preizkušeni državni notranji

revizor/Accountant/ auditor intern

de stat instruit

SPAIN

Auditor de cuentas/ Auditor/accountant/ auditor de

conturi

Instituto de Contabilidad y Auditoria de Cuentas (ICAC)/ Institute of Accounting and

Accounts Auditing PS3 - Post-secondary diploma (3-


Source: done by the author with information from the IMI system, the legislative area of

professional qualifications, at http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/regprof/

index.cfm?action=profession&id_profession=2100 (at 30.05.2013)

By corroborating the information on the regulation of financial auditor profession from

several comparative studies conducted at EU level3 and supplementing them with information

from national documents (especially in the case of Romania in order to also update them), we

will further present the comparative situation on the 9 MS analyzed, on each defining item

separately.

Specific national legislation, the protected professional titles and the CA

In Romania, the financial auditor profession is regulated by Law no. 278 of 7 November 2008

approving the Government Emergency Ordinance (GEO) no. 90/2008 on statutory audits of

annual financial statements and consolidated annual financial statements and Law. 26/2010

amending and supplementing GEO no.75/1999 on the financial audit activity, and CA is the

Chamber of Financial Auditors of Romania - CAFR.

In Austria, the specific law is Wirtschaftstreuhandberufsgesets - WTBG (Statute of

professional practice of the Public Accountants) and is protected professional title

Wirtschaftsprüfer (Certified Public Accountant / chartered accountant and auditor). The CA

3 Mainly: FEE - Key Features on Structure and Organisation of the Accountancy Profession across 30 European

countries, 26 March 2012, to http://www.fee.be/images/publications/qualification/Intro_Structure_and_

Organisation_of_the_Profession2732012401312.pdf - files for the 9 EU MS on witch I realized the comparative

analysis, DG Internal Market and Services - Final Report - Study to Provide year Inventory of Reserves of

Activities linked to Professional Qualifications & Requirements in 13 Member States Assessing Their economic

impact, January 2012 - Annex H of the final report at http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/docs

/news/20120214-annex_en.pdf - files for 7 MS analyzed, Romania and Austria being neither part of the sample

countries across which the analysis was conducted within the study.

http://www.oroc.pt/

http://www.mf.gov.si/

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/regprof/%20index.cfm?action=profession&id_profession=2100

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/regprof/%20index.cfm?action=profession&id_profession=2100

http://www.fee.be/images/publications/qualification/Intro_Structure_and_%20Organisation_of_the_Profession2732012401312.pdf

http://www.fee.be/images/publications/qualification/Intro_Structure_and_%20Organisation_of_the_Profession2732012401312.pdf

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/docs%20/news/20120214-annex_en.pdf

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/docs%20/news/20120214-annex_en.pdf


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for this profession is Kammer der Wirtschaftstreuhänder - KWT (Chamber of Certified Public

Accountants).

In the Czech Republic, the audit services are regulated by Law No. 93/2009 on auditors and

the protected title is Auditorské služby (audit services), . The CA is the Komora auditorů ČR -

KACR (Chamber of Auditors of the Czech Republic).

In Denmark, the professions in the field of financial audit are regulated by Lg. Audit no.

468/17 June 2008. In the field of financial audit there are two protected titles: Statsautoriseret

Revisor (auditor / state certified public accountant), and Registrered Revisor (auditor /

registered public accountant). For both professions there is only one CA - Erhvervsstyrelsen

(Danish Commerce and Companies Agency / Danish Commerce and Company Agency,

DCCA).

Germany has the same professional title as the Austria, ie. Wirtschaftsprüfer. The auditor may

also perform tax consulting activity, i.e. Wirtschaftsprüfer qualification is usually acquired

over qualification Steuerberater (tax consultant). But, unlike in Austria (where KWT is CA

for both regulated professions) in Germany the two regulated professions have different CA:

Wirtschaftsprüfer-Kammer - WPK for auditors and Steuerberaterkammer for tax consultants.

The specific legislation for auditing activity consists of the Gesetz über eine der

Wirtschaftsprüfer Berufsordnung - WPO (Law on Public Accountants), from 1961, the most

recent amended in December 2010, Handelsgesetzbuch - HGB (Commercial Code), from

1897, the most recent amended in March 2011, Berufssatzung WP / vBP (the Charter of

Professions), since 1996, amended in November 2009.

In Italy there is the protected professional title Revisore legale dei conti (statutory auditor of

accounts) that is reserved solely for the activity of legal / statutory financial audit, but in the

case of financial audit for other legal persons than those who are required to have legal /

statutory audit, this represents an reserved shared activity with Revisore contabile dei conti

(auditor of accounts) and the two professional titles in accounting field - Dottore

commercialista (certified public accountant) and Esperto contabile (accountant).

In the case of the statutory auditor of accounts, the specific legislation is the D.Lgs 27 gennaio

2010, n. 39 “Attuazione della direttiva 2006/43/CE, relativa alle revisioni legali dei conti

annuali e dei conti consolidate (transposition into national law of Directive 2006 / 43/CE) and

the CA for statutory auditors is the Ministry of Economy and Finance. In the case of the

auditor of accounts, according to registry of the IMI system, CA is the Chartered body of

Accountants and Commercial Law Experts (in neither of the comparative studies that

constituted the main documentary basis for this guide, revisore contabile dei conti profession

is however not included in the analysis).

The Netherlands has two professions regulated as regards the activity of auditing reservation:

Accountant - administratieconsulent (accounting consultant) and Registeraccountant

(registered accountant).

The main difference between the two professional titles consist of the initial training route

(presented in Chapter 2 of the guide) while the services the holders of these two titles can


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provide are common. The specific legislation consists of Wet toezicht accountantsorganisaties

(Law on supervision of accounting firms) and the Civil Code from 2010 (Volume 2, Chapters

9 and 11), and also the specific law for each profession - Wet op de Accountants-

Administratieconsulenten (Accounting Consultants Law) and respectively Wet op de

registeraccountants (Registered Accountants Law). Currently the two professions have a

single CA - NBA Institute, which resulted from the merger of the former professional bodies

Nederlandse Orde van Accountants Administratieconsulenten - NovAA (The Netherlands

Accounting Consultants Order) and Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut van Registeraccountants -

NIVRA (Royal Institute of Registered Accountants).

In Spain the financial auditor is the only regulated profession among professions in the NACE

group 692. The specific legislation is the Royal Decree 1/2011 which approves the revised

text of the Law on the financial audit. Title is the protected Auditor de cuentas (Auditor of

Accounts) and the CA is the Instituto de Contabilidad y Auditoria de Cuentas - ICAC (Institute

of Accounting and Auditing of Accounts).

The United Kingdom is a special case, because in most cases, the access to the market is not

restricted by reserving activities to certain regulated qualifications / professions, but

protection of consumers is ensured by legally protecting the professional titles, the holders

these titles are members of professional associations / institutions which are granting titles and

which regulates the activity of their members. "Chartered" status of the Body (legally

protected) demonstrates that there is a distinct profession in the respective field of activity,

and the body awarding the title / titles has the capacity to establish and maintain high ethical

and technical standards among its members. "Chartered" status of the Body also confirms that

the organization and its members are recognized as experts in their respective field of activity,

which is of public interest.

In the field of accounting any person in the UK might call itself accountant and can provide

accounting services, but there are six legally protected professional titles (chartered) without

their owners to have reserved accounting activities. Only the professions of statutory financial

auditor and insolvency practitioner are regulated (meaning that these activities can be carried

out only by those who hold a certain professional title). Statutory auditing services can be

provided only by the Registered Auditors (registered auditors) or by Chartered Certified

Accountants (chartered certified accountants) and Chartered Accountants (chartered

accountants) who have obtained additional professional qualifications and only the

professional associations authorized have the responsibility for supervision of the use of the

respective titles may authorize members to conduct statutory financial audit activity.

These are the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants - ACCA (Association of

Chartered Certified Accountants), Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales -

ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales) and the Institute of

Chartered Accountants of Scotland - ICAS (Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland).

The regulation of the activity of financial audit is given by transposition into national law of

the Directive 2006/43/EC on statutory financial audit of annual accounts and consolidated

accounts, trough the Companies Act 2006 (Companies Act), Section 1212 and Scheme 10.

The British government has the responsibility and the power to record, monitor and regulate

the statutory auditors, but through the Financial Reporting Council (Financial Reporting


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Council - FRC), these powers of government are delegated to professional bodies listed

above. Therefore, as CA for statutory auditors it occurs the Professional Oversight Board -

POB (Professional Oversight Board), the structure within the FRC who supervises the entire

activity of the professional bodies concerned.

Reserved activities and included authorizations

The common element of the financial audit professions regulated in the 9 MS analyzed is that

they are exclusively reserved (other qualifications / professions are not entitled to carry out

the activity) or shared (in Denmark, Netherlands, United Kingdom) auditing activity of

statutory / legal annual accounts statement and of the consolidated annual financial

statements, reservation resulting from the transposition of Directive 2006/43/EC, and are

shared reservation (also other professions are entitled to carry out that activity) or also

exclusively (Romania) and non-statutory financial audit. An exception is Italy, where the

profession / qualification that is exclusively reserved for statutory audit activity is revisore

legale dei conti ,and the other professions (revisore contabile dei conti, dottore

commercialista, esperto contabile) have only shared reservation for non-statutory financial

audit. In Denmark, of the two professions regulated in the financial audit field, the

Statsautoriseret revisor is exclusively reserved the audit activity for public listed companies

(at the stock exchange), and in Spain only the statutory audit activity is regulated, not the one

of non-statutory audit.

The other shared reserved activities as well as the authorizations included (by default) varies

from one country to another, especially depending on the interference between the

accounting, auditing and tax consulting professions: in Austria and Germany, the holder of the

title / qualification Wirtschaftsprüfer is entitled to conduct also the activities reserved to the

profession of tax consultant (Steuerberater), in other words it requires a qualification above

that of Steuerberater, in Germany, Czech Republic, Denmark, Great Britain, Spain, the expert

accounting activities are authorized by default, as the accounting services are not regulated; in

Denmark, as there is no separate profession of tax consultant, the two professions of financial

audit have also, by default, the authorization for the tax consultancy services, in the

Netherlands, as the two professional titles are for accountants (but they are regulated only for

the financial audit services), it is stated that the two protected titles also include the right to

use the title of accountant, in Spain, auditors have included the authorization for activities of

asset valuation and increase/decrease of capital in some cases of restructuring or bankruptcy

of some firms.

In the case of Romania, Law no. 149/2013, published in Official Journal (OJ) no. 257 of 9

May 2013, complement the normative acts regulating the activities of accounting expertise, of

assets valuation, of financial audit, tax consultancy and insolvency practitioner, stating clearly

that professionals in these fields can carry out an complementary activity only if they are

qualified for it and are members of the organizations that coordinate the liberal professions

concerned.

More precisely, the Law no. 149/2013 stipulates punctually that "the financial auditors may

carry out the activities of accounting expertise, valuation, judiciary reorganization and

liquidation as well as tax consultancy only after the acquiring, according to the law, the

quality of expert accountant, evaluator, insolvency practitioner or tax consultant, as


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appropriate, and enrolling as member of the organizations that coordinate the liberal

professions.” 4. It results, on the one hand, that all the financial audit activities are reserved

exclusively for the financial auditor profession, but, on the other hand, that the financial

auditors do not have shared reserved activities or authorizations included in the accounting

expertise, valuation, judiciary reorganization and liquidation or tax consultancy , because each

of these activities are exclusively reserved to one of the other liberal financial professions

distinctly regulated in Romania.

The oath when it is granted the title of financial auditor

The oath is compulsory in Austria, Czech Republic, Germany and Romania. In Denmark,

Italy, UK, Netherlands and Spain there is no such requirement.

The obligation of registration and the establishment of a regulatory body of public interest

These two obligations are set out by the Directive 2006/43/EC, therefore in all the MS

analyzed they are met as follows:

• Austria - KWT is the CA for recording of all financial auditors, supplemented by

Arbeitsausschuss für externe Qualitätsprüfungen –AeQ (Executive Committee for the quality

external audits) for the statutory auditors; the supervisory body is Qualitätskontrollbehörde -

OKB (The Austrian Authority for Auditors Supervision );

• Czech Republic - KACR is the CA for recording (which perceives a registration fee of

approx. 200 euro), and the supervisory body is The Public Council of Audit Supervision

(APOC);

• Denmark - the CA for recording is the Danish Commerce and Companies Agency - DCCA

(which does not perceives any registration fee) and the supervising body is The Supervisory

Authority on Auditing - DSAA (The Supervisory Authority on Auditing);

• Germany - the CA for recording is the Wirtschaftsprüfer-Kammer ((which perceives a fee of

230 euro) and the supervisory body is Abschlussprüfe-raufsichtskommission - Apak (Auditors

Supervisory Commission);

• Italy - the CA for registration of statutory auditors (revisore legale dei conti) is the Ministry

of Economy and Finance (which perceives a fee of approx. 25 euro) and the supervisory body

for the public audit firms is the Commissione Nazionale per la Societa it's Borsa - Consob (the

Investors Protection Supervisory Authority);

4 The Law no. 149/2013 for approving of the Government Ordinance no. 23/2012 for amending and

supplementing the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 90/2008 on statutory audit of annual financial

situations and the consolidated financial situations and the Government Ordinance no. 65/1994 on the

organization of accounting expertise activity and of the certified accountants and for amending other acts

Official Journal, no. 257, of May 9, 2013.


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• United Kingdom - the CA for recording are the three professional bodies to whom it was

delegated this power: ACCA (membership fee is 193 pounds and the fee for the license to

practice is 385 pounds), ICAEW (fee membership - 300 pounds , practicing certificate fee -

268 pounds), ICAS (membership fee - 396 pounds, practicing certificate fee - 474 pounds);

POB is the supervising body (Professional oversight Board);

• Netherlands - the CA for recording is the NBA for both regulated professions (which

perceives a fee of approx. 250 euro) and the supervisory body is the AFM (Dutch Authority

for the Financial Markets);

• Romania - the CA for recording is CAFR (the fee for individuals is about. 150 euro) and the

supervising body is in the Council for the Public Interest Oversight of the Accountancy

Profession - CSIPPC (by transformation CSPAAS - Council for the Public Oversight for

Statutory Auditing into oversight Council not only for public financial auditor profession, but

also for accounting professions);

• Spain - the CA for recording is ICAC (that does not perceives any fee) being an independent

structure, but within the Ministry of Economy and Taxation, ICAC also acts as a public

interest supervision body.


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2. COMPETENCES CERTIFICATION PROCEDURES APPLIED BY THE CA IN THE

COUNTRIES ANALYZED

The provisions related to the necessary qualifications for evaluation / examination of

professional competence and continuous vocational training (CVT) of the Directive

2006/43/EC on statutory audits of the annual accounts and consolidated accounts (presented

in Chapter 1) provides a relatively high degree of harmonization of the competences

certification procedures applied by the CA in all MS, and, with respect to the Directive

2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications, it can be seen from table 1.1

that the minimum qualification level is post-secondary diploma level 3 - 4 years or, in some

cases, more than four years (State Authorized Public Accountant in Denmark and the Internal

Financial Auditor in Poland).

In this chapter we will present within the synoptic table 2.1, in comparable format, only the

situation in the 9 analyzed MS.


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Table 2.1

The requirements for acquiring the qualification of financial auditor and those regarding CVT in the analyzed MS

MS Austria Czech

Republic

Denmark Germany Italy United Kingdom Netherlands Romania Spain

Mandatory

training

requirements

for acquiring

qualification

University degree or

equivalent +

3 years practice in

audit (2 years practice in audit for Tax

consultants /

Steuerberater) +

professional

examination

University

degree (Bachelor or

Master)

+ min. 3 years

practice in

audit (min.35 hrs /

wk.)

+ professional

examination

at the Chamber of

Auditors

University

degree in accountancy

obtained with

max. 8 years before

(master for.

Statsautoriseret Revisor,

bachelor for.

Registrered Revisor)

+

3 years practice in audit

+

qualifying exam (different

on the two

professions)

University

degree (Bachelor

or Master)

+ audit

practice (4

years for. the

Bachelor,

3 years. for

Master)

+ auditor

exam

University

degree in economics

+

3 years practice in

audit

+ State

exam

ACCA:

a) Diploma of Secondary

Education b) university/postuniv.

degree.

c) Certified Accounting Technician qualification

(CAT)

+ 14 ACCA qualification

examinations (depending on the route of admission)

+ professional ethical

module +

3 years relevant practical

experience

University degree (Bachelor

for.Administratieconsulent, Master for

Registeraccountant)

+ Part-time postuniv. program

(1,5 years

for.Administratieconsulent, 1 and 2 years for.

Registeraccountant)

+ 3 years of practice

+

final exam

University degree in

Economics +

4 years of experience in

the finance - accounting +

financial and accounting

knowledge test +

3 years practice

+ Aptitude test for. acquiring

the title of financial

auditor held to the CAFR with final approval of

CSIPPC

University degree +

min.3 years practice/ preuniv degree.+ min. 8 years

practice

+ theoretical training +

State exam

ICAEW:


Education

b) university/postuniv. degree.

c) ICAEW Certificate in

Finance, accountancy and business (CFAB)

d) AAT qualification

+ ACA qualification program

(Associate Chartered

Accountant): 15 training modules, 450 days of

practice, early professional

development, structured training in ethics


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ICAS:


Education

b) university/postuniv degree.

c) AAT qualification

+

Practice Agreement with an

ICAS authorized employer

(usually 3 years) + study and 3 stages of exams

(depending on the route of

admission) + business ethics course

CVT /

continuous

vocational

training.

KWT ensure CVT

trough Akademie der

Wirtschaftstreuhänder

Yes, min. 60

hours/year

organized by KACR

Yes, min. 120

hours within 3

years reported by the auditor

or its employer

Yes, IDW

(the

professional body) is

involved in

providing

CVT

Yes

Yes, al the three institutes

impose CVT to their

members,

Yes, NBA organize CVT for

both professions Yes, min.40 hours/year,

from which 20 hours

under CAFR supervision (incl. e-learning)

Yes, ICJCE (Auditors

professional body) provides

CVT together with its 16 regional branches

Application

of the

professional

standards

KWT is involved by

law in the development of professional

standards

KACR

develops its own

insurance

standards and it has

adopted

all the IAASB

standards

FSR (Auditors

professional body)

develops standards based

on the IFAC

standards

IDW

(Public Auditors

Institute)

develops audit and

quality

assurance standards

Min. of Econ.

and Finances and the

Consob in the

case of audit firms of

public

interest

FRC is responsible for

development of

professional standards

NBA develop the professional

standards CAFR has entirely

adopted the IFAC

standards

ICAC elaborate together with

ICJCE the professional

standards and is responsible for their adoption

Quality

Assurance

AeQ and QKB are involved, not the KWT

KACR

ensure quality under

supervision

of APOC

- WPK ensure quality under

supervision

of APAK

- The three institutes ensure

quality under supervision of POB

NBA ensure quality CAFR ensure quality

under supervision of CSIPPC

ICAC together with ICJCE ensure quality

disciplinary

measures

KWT take disciplinary

measures for those of eQ

and QKB related to

quality assurance

KACR take

disciplinary

measures

under supervision of

If the CVT

missing hours are

under 40, they must be done

within the time

- Min. Econ.

and Finances

and Consob in case of

audit firms of

The three institutes apply

disciplinary measures to

their members under the

supervision of POB

NBA apply disciplinary

measures to their members CAFR apply disciplinary

measures to their members

under the supervision of

CSIPPC

ICAC, bat also ICJCE apply

disciplinary measures


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APOC provided by CA; If the CVT

missing hours are

above 40 or have not been done

within the time provided by CA;

the CA can

withdrawal the Statutory auditor

authorization

public interest

Source: FEE – Key Features on Structure and Organization of the Accountancy Profession across 30 European countries, 26 March 2012; DG

Internal Market and Services – Final Report – Study to provide an Inventory of Reserves of Activities linked to professional qualifications

requirements in 13 Member States & assessing their economic impact, January 2012 – annex H; Chamber of Financial Auditors of Romania –

presentation sustained by CAFR for the study visit in Denmark, May 2013


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3. QUALIFICATIONS RECOGNITION PROCESSES ACQUIRED IN OTHER EU MS IN

ORDER TO PRACTICE THE FINANCIAL AUDITOR PROFESSION

The statistics in the IMI system, realized based on data on the professionals mobility on the

two modalities of performance (through establishment / the exercise with permanent character

of their profession in another Member of the EU, EEA and Switzerland, or temporary

performance) and for each generic profession category individually, in accordance with the

generic categories registered in the database until now, there are not relevant for the financial

auditors because, as shown in Chapter 1 of this guide, MS of EU, EEA and Swiss

Confederation registered the regulated professions in the financial audit on various generic

categories, of which only some cover only the financial auditors, while others reflect not only

the mobility of financial auditors, but also the other regulated accounting profession which

have been registered in those generic categories. Therefore, the statistics presented below are

based on own data processing regarding only the recognition decisions recorded by the MS of

the EU, EEA and Swiss Confederation on regulated professions mainly for financial audit.

The statement on the establishment / the exercise with permanent character during 1997/98 -

2012 of the accountancy profession is presented in Table 3.1.

Table 3.1

Statistics of decisions on qualifications recognition acquired in other EU MS, EEA and the

Swiss Confederation for the profession of financial auditor (1997/8 - 2012)

Host Country:

regulated

professions

The profession for which

has been adopted the

recognition decision

Qualification Country

of Origin

No. of positive

decisions

No. of negative

decisions

No. of neutral

decisions

Total decisions

Belgium:

20 = 6 + 12 +2 /

requests from 4 SM

Reviseur d’entreprise/

bedrijfsrevisor

20=6+12+2

France 2 11 1 14

Luxembourg 3 0 0 3

United Kingdom 1 0 0 1

Netherlands 0 1 1 2

Czech Republic :

8 = 7 + 0 + 1/

requests from 3 SM

Auditorské služby

8=7+0+1

Germany 2 0 0 2


Slovakia 2 0 0 2

Cyprus

478 positive

decisions for

requests from 5 SM

Λογιστής

478 0 0

Czech Republic 1 0 0 1

Greece 2 0 0 2

Ireland 1 0 0 1


Slovakia 1 0 0 1

Hungary 3 0 0 3

Denmark :

12 = 4 + 1 + 7/

requests from 3 SM

Statsautoriseret

revisor/registered revisor

12=4+1+7

Germany 1 0 0 1

Iceland 1 0 2 3



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and Iceland Netherlands 0 0 1 1

Germany:

63 = 45 + 14 + 4

requests from 11 SM

and Switzerland

Wirtschaftsprüfer

63=45+14+4

Denmark 2 1 0 3

Switzerland 3 1 0 4

France 6 3 1 10

Greece 1 0 0 1

Ireland 3 0 0 3

Italy 2 0 2 4

Luxemburg 1 4 0 5


Netherlands 4 3 0 7

Spain 1 0 0 1

Sweden 0 1 0 1

Hungary 1 1 0 2

Greece:

1 positive decision

for request form

1MS

Orkotós logistís

1 0 0


Ireland:

22 = 19 + 1 + 2

requests from 5 SM

Chartered and certified

accountants and other

professional accountants registered as auditors

5 0 0


Chartered accountant

14 = 11+1+2

France 1 1 0 2

Germany 1 0 0 1

Italy 1 0 1 2


Spain 0 0 1 1

Certified public

accountant

3 0 0


Italy:

12=3+3+6 requests

from 5 SM

Revisore contabile

12=3+3+6

France 0 1 2 3

Germany 1 0 2 3

Luxembourg 1 0 0 1


Spain 0 1 1 2

United Kingdom:

119 = 53 + 19 + 47

requests from 12 MS

of EU, Iceland and

Norway

Chartered Certified

Accountant

37=21+3+13

France 0 0 2 2

Germany 1 0 0 1

Ireland 18 3 1 22

Italy 2 0 7 9

Luxemburg 0 0 3 3

Chartered accountant Denmark 0 1 1 2


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82=32+16+34

(neutral decision = under

examination)

France 5 1 1 7

Germany 2 0 1 3

Greece 0 0 1 1

Ireland 0 1 2 3

Iceland 0 0 1 1

Italy 19 12 14 45

Luxembourg 0 0 1 1

Norway 1 0 1 2

Netherlands 3 0 1 4

Portugal 0 0 8 8

Spain 0 0 1 1

Sweden 2 1 0 3

Hungary 0 0 1 1

Norway:

17 = 3 + 3 + 11

requests from 6 SM

Statsautorisert revisor

17=3+3+11

Denmark 0 1 0 1

France 0 0 3 3

Germany 1 0 0 1

Italy 0 0 2 2


Sweden 0 2 1 3

Netherlands:

2 = 0 + 2 + 0

requests from 2 SM

Accountant –

administratieconsulent

0 2 0

Germany 0 1 0 1


Portugal:

4 = 3 + 1 + 0

requests from 3 SM

Revisor oficial de contas

4=3+1+0


Poland 1 0 0 1

Spain 1 0 0 1

Romania:

158 positive

decisions (all

positive general

system without

compensatory

measures) requests

from 7 SM

Financial Auditor

158 0 0

Bulgaria 2 0 0 2

Cyprus 2 0 0 2

Germany 2 0 0 2

Italy 2 0 0 2


Poland 1 0 0 1

Slovakia 2 0 0 2

Spain:

11 positive decisions

requests from 2 SM

Auditor de cuentas

11 0 0

France 3 0 0 3


TOTAL:

14 host countries

17 registered within the

IMI system

21 countries of origin

for the qualification

791 56 80 927

Source: made by the author with the data from the IMI system, the situation of decisions for

permanent provision only for the financial auditor profession in all generic categories in

which they were registered, on 16.07.2013, at http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/%20qualifications/regprof/index.cfm?action=profession&id_profession=2100&tab=countries&quid=2&mode=asc&maxRows=*#top


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qualifications/regprof/index.cfm?action=profession&id_profession=2100&tab=countries&qui

d=2&mode=asc&maxRows=*#top

From this statistical statement we can say the fact that Romania is among the 14 EEA MS

who had received requests for recognition of qualifications acquired in other MS, ranking the

second in number of decisions adopted, after Cyprus. If we consider, however, that out of the

158 decisions taken, 147 refers to individuals who have acquired the qualification in the UK,

it could in fact be about the Romanian citizens who have obtained the ACCA qualification in

Romania, that reflects not necessarily the mobility of professionals, but rather the quality of

ACCA qualifications and their international recognition.

The same situation could be also in the case of Cyprus, with those 470 decisions for

recognition of qualifications gained in the UK, out of the total of 478 decisions adopted by the

SM. What can be still noted is that both the case of Cyprus as well as of Romania, all 478,

respectively the 158 were positive recognition decisions without compensatory measures.

Romania, however, does not appear among the countries of origin of the financial auditor

qualifications, according to the records made by the CA included in IMI system. The fact that

the UK won the first place with 74% of applicants for recognition of their qualification

confirms reputation of British qualifications among the CA of EEA MS.

Graphically, the statistics on mobility based on establishing regime / permanent performance

of the financial audit professions is as follows:

Chart 3.1. - Structure of financial auditor qualifications recognition based on types of

decisions

85%

6%

9%

Dec iz ii poz itive

Dec iz ii negative

Dec iz ii neutre

Positive decisions

Negative decisions

Neutral decisions




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Chart 3.2. - Structure per host countries of the financial auditor qualifications recognition

decisions

52%

17%

13%

7%

2%2%7%

C ipru

R omania

Marea B ritanie

G ermania

Irlanda

B elgia

R es tul de 8 tari

Chart 3.3. - Structure per countries of origin of the financial auditor qualifications recognition

requests

74%

7%

5%

3%2%

9%

Marea B ritanie

Italia

F ranta

Irlanda

G ermania

R es tul de 16 tari

Source: all three charts are based on the data processed by the author from the EC database

with the regulated professions listed in Table 3.1

Among the most mobile professions by permanent provision regime (establishment), during

1997/8 - 2012 the existing generic categories in the IMI system which include also the

financial auditor profession were placed on the following positions:

• heading 46 - auditor / accountant, with 815 decisions;

Cyprus

Romania

United Kingdom

Germany

Ireland

Belgium

The other 8 countries

United Kingdom

Italy

France

Ireland

Germany

The other 16 countries


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• heading 74 - accountant / tax advisor with 416 decisions;

• heading 121 - company auditor, with 158 decisions (all adopted by Romania);

• heading 355 - public finance accountant, with 3 decisions (all taken by Ireland on financial

audit).

Out of the 448 generic categories listed (for which there have been recognition requests in this

period), with those 927 decisions, the financial auditor profession would have been in rank

45, which proves that compared with other accounting professions and tax consultancy

included in the generic categories which also include financial auditor profession, the latter

were the most mobile.

The temporary provision of statutory audit services is considered impossible (because the

auditor or the audit firm must be registered within the MS where it provides statutory audit

services). Non-statutory audit activity can be done however also temporary, case in which, if

the activity is regulated, the CA of the host MS may request cross-border provision

notification, but it is not mandatory, it is up to the CA of the respective country.

Among the MS analyzed, in the Czech Republic, KACR require written notification prior to

providing services, which must include the following information:

• name, surname;

• correspondence address in the Czech Republic;

• copies of formal qualifications which enable of the financial audit provision of services;

• the audit services to be provided;

• the place of supply and the estimated duration of service provision.

The process of qualification recognition is available but only in the case of establishment /

permanent provision. As already stated in the Chapter 1 of this guide, the financial auditor

profession fall under the general system of qualifications recognition referred to in Directive

2005/36/EC on recognition of professional qualifications. In this case, the recognition is not

automatic, but requires a comparison between the training provided in the two states – the one

in which the applicant has acquired the qualification (country of origin) and the one in which

it wants to permanent practice its profession (host country), and also the possibility, in the

case of "substantial differences", of the application of compensatory measures (aptitude test or

adaptation period - Article 23 of the Directive).

Moreover, in respect of the recognition of qualifications acquired in other MS, also the

Directive 2006/43/EC on statutory audits of annual accounts and consolidated accounts

provides that the CA of MS must establish procedures for the approval of statutory auditors

who have been authorized in another MS and that these procedures should not exceed the

requirement to pass an aptitude test according to the provisions of Directive on recognition of

professional qualifications test which is held in one of the languages permitted by the

language rules applicable in the Member State.5

5 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 JO L 157, 9.06.2006, p.87 – art. 14


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For the general system of recognition, the application for recognition is submitted to the CA

of the host MS. This application must be accompanied by a series of documents and

certificates listed in Annex VII to Directive 2005/36/EC.

The documents that can be requested when submitting an application for recognition are:

• proof of nationality;

• evidence of establishment in another MS of the EU, EEA or Swiss Confederation;

• documents regarding professional qualification, competences and practical experience:

certificate of competence or evidence of formal qualification issued by the CA of the origin

MS;

• other documents, if they are required also to financial auditors from the host MS - evidence

of reputation, solvency, proof that the applicant is medically fit, financial status, professional

insurance.

The CA from the host MS may request, only for the most important documents, copies and

translations authenticated by a notary, but not for standardized documents (e.g. passport,

identity card). Also, there can not be required original documents, only copies. In the case

when the applicant can not provide all the requested information, CA of the host country

should try to obtain them from the CA of the origin MS trough the IMI system.

As recognition procedure, the CA of the host MS shall, within one month, to confirm the

receipt of the file and to draw attention to any missing documents, if applicable. The CA

deadline to grant recognition or decide to apply an aptitude test is 4 months. Any rejection

must be substantiated and the rejection or failing to take a decision within the time limit

mentioned above could be challenged before the national courts.

The aptitude test can be applied provided that the CA of the host MS, based on the documents

received determines the differences between the two qualifications which must be covered by

compensatory measures. As financial audit activity requires knowledge of the relevant

national legislation, the aptitude test is a compensatory measure used in most cases of

recognition of this qualification. In the vision of EC, the CA of the host MS should hold at

least two sessions of aptitude tests per year. In order to achieve the recognition and organize

the aptitude test, the CA may charge a fee provided that it does not exceed the costs involved

and is not discriminatory against its own nationals placed in similar situations.

Once obtained the qualification recognition, the financial auditor can practice the profession

in the same conditions as those acquired the qualification in the host MS, the professional

regulations of the host MS being applicable, including the use of professional titles in that

country.

In the Table 3.2 we present the characteristics of the qualification recognition process of

financial auditor in the 9 analyzed MS


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Table 3.2

Comparative analysis of the qualification recognition processes of financial audit in the 9 MS MS Austria Czech

Republic


CA for qualification

recognition

KWT,

AeQ

KACR DCCA WPK Ministry of Justice ACCA, ICAEW,

ICAS

AFM CAFR

ICAC

Qualification

recognition

procedure

Aptitude test Aptitude test Aptitude test Aptitude test Aptitude test Aptitude test Aptitude test Aptitude test Aptitude test

CA for the Aptitude

test

KWT KACR DCCA WPK Ministry of

economy and

finance

ACCA, ICAEW,

ICAS

Commissie

Eindtermen

Accountantsopleiding

(CEA)for admission for testing

NBAfor testing

CAFR

ICAC

Test type 2 written exams and one oral

exam

written oral written and oral oral ACCA: written and oral;

ICAEW: online

testing; ICAS: written and oral

oral for

Registeraccountant,

written and oral for

Administratieconsulent

written and oral written

The main topics Written: general

legal doctrine, tax legislation

Oral professional

law, quality assurance

The financial

reporting, the tax

and commercial, legislation audit

with focus on

national regulations

Tax, commercial

and professional legislation,

Tax, commercial

and professional legislation,

On a case by case

basis, usually tax,

commercial, professional,

ethical legislation,

Law and Taxation in

the UK

Civil, commercial,

fiscal, professional legislation, accounting

law

Financial audit,

internal audit,

fiscal code, commercial

code, accounting

law

Spanish

legislation applicable to

audit

Test language German Czech Danish German Italian English Dutch/ English for Registeraccountant,

Dutch for

Administratieconsulent

Romanian / English

Not specified

The frequency of

organizing the

aptitude tests

On request 2 times / year 2 times / year Once a year Once a year ACCA: 2 times / year written examination,

oral examination on

request; ICAEW: permanently

available online test;

ICAS: writing -

2 times / year 2 times / year (June and

November)

Every two years


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legislation 5 times / year, tax 3 times / year

oral examination on

request

The possibility of

re-testing

Yes Yes, but only

within 2 years

Yes , three times Yes, two times Yes Depending on the

professional body

Yes, unlimited Yes, unlimited Not specified

Source: FEE – Key Features on Structure and Organization of the Accountancy Profession across 30 European countries, 26 March 2012


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One possibility, simpler than legal / statutory approach for complaining against a decision

regarding the recognition of qualifications, considered as not in line with Directive

2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications, is the appeal to the SOLVIT

system.

The SOLVIT is an online network, operational since July 2002, in which the EU MS are

working together to solve in a pre-legal stage, problems caused by the misapplication or non-

application of Internal Market Community legislation by the public authorities. There is a

SOLVIT centre in every EU MS, as well as in Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. The

centers are part of the central government and must give solutions to the problems raised by

citizens or companies within 10 weeks, and the network utilization is free.

The Romanian SOLVIT Centre is located within the Ministry of European Affairs (can be

contacted at e-mail [email protected] ).

The SOLVIT mechanism operating conditions are:

• to be about the failure or misapplication of EU legislation by a Member State administration,

• to be about a cross border case

• that there is no action already in place for its settlement.

The cross border nature does not imply the petitioner to be in another MS than the one where

the problem has occurred. It is enough to have an international element that could make

applicable the provisions of Community legislation (e.g., a Romanian citizen wants to

practice in Germany and has difficulty on engagement). The functioning of the SOLVIT

system is shown in the diagram below.

Source: http://www.romania-actualitati.ro/conceptul_de_cetatenie_europeana-50325 (as of

07/17/2013)

How does it work

Country A Country A

Home

SOLVIT

centre

Lead

SOLVIT

centre

Work together to

find solutions

Work

together to

present

problem

and find

solutions

Work

together to

negotiate

problem

Problem

Natural or legal

person

Public

Authority

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.romania-actualitati.ro/conceptul_de_cetatenie_europeana-50325


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For instance, if a Romanian citizen has a complaint regarding the rules of the internal market,

it will address SOLVIT ROMANIA (the organization that can handle the case depending on

the nationality of the person who submitted the complaint). If a Romanian citizen has

obtained the qualification in Austria, wishing to be employed in Germany and has a complaint

in this regard, it will address the centre in Austria. The application will be analyzed and if

deemed that the case is a breach of the Community law, it will contact LEAD SOLVIT centre

(responsible SOLVIT Centre). If they agree with the proposal, it will go further to the

respondent authority. The client is assisted in a language he understands, but more important

is that there is a SOLVIT centre responsible who knows what procedures should be followed

and which authorities should be contacted to resolve the issue. In order to obtain a good

result, SOLVIT rely on the relationship with the respondent authority. This is because it is an

informal network and does not have the authority of a judge.

The reasons for which not all the petitions are addressed include:

• certain issues related to the Member State legislation, if it can not give a quick solution, the

case is considered unsolved;

• the respondent authority is not willing to cooperate, in which case the petitioner is advised to

consult the courts which are able to oblige the CA to modify their behavior accordingly to the

reported aspect.


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4. EXERCISE OF THE FINANCIAL AUDITOR PROFESSION IN THE EU

The financial auditor is part of the financial liberal professions category, as the financial audit

can be performed either with a freelancer status, either as a partner or employee of a financial

audit firm (or accounting, financial audit, tax advice according to CAEN code 692, who is

registered and authorized to provide financial audit). Therefore, all national registries in

which are mandatorily registered the financial audit service providers, include both

individuals and legal auditor entities - companies authorized for financial audit.

At the EU level, also the manner of exercise of the financial auditor profession has a high

level of harmonization (compared to other categories of professionals in accounting and tax

consultancy services) provided by the transposition of the Directive 2006/43/EC on statutory

audits of annual accounts and consolidated accounts into the MS national legislation.

Thus, with respect to the exercise of the profession of statutory auditor, the minimum

obligations set out in Directive 2006/43/EC are the following:

The competent authorities of a Member State may grant approval only to natural persons

or firms of good repute. (art.4);

statutory auditors and audit firms are subject to principles of professional ethics, covering

at least their public-interest function, their integrity and objectivity and their professional

competence and due care. (art.21);

statutory auditors and audit firms must be independent when carrying out a statutory audit,

the statutory auditor and/or the audit firm is independent of the audited entity and is not

involved in the decision-taking of the audited entity, and if the significance of the threats

to her or its independence(direct or indirect financial interest to the audited entity,

provision of additional non-audit services the level of fees received from one audited

entity and/or the structure of the fees) even after the safeguards applied to mitigate those

threats, is to high, they must to resign or abstain to accept the audit mission; (art.22) the

owners or shareholders of an audit firm as well as the members of the administrative,

management and supervisory bodies of such a firm, or of an affiliated firm, do not

intervene in the execution of a statutory audit in any way which jeopardizes the

independence and objectivity of the statutory auditor who carries out the statutory audit on

behalf of the audit firm. (art.24);

statutory auditors and audit firms have the obligation to follow strict rules on

confidentiality and professional secrecy (art.23);

statutory audits to be carried out in compliance with international auditing standards

adopted by the Commission, Member States may adopt a national auditing standard as

long as the Commission has not adopted an international auditing standard covering the

same subject-matter (art. 26);

statutory auditors and audit firms are subject to a system of quality assurance which shall

be organized in such a manner that it is independent of the reviewed statutory auditors and

audit firms and subject to public oversight (art.29);

Statutory auditors and audit firms are responsible for carrying out their work with due care

and thus should be liable for the financial damage caused by a lack of the care owed, but

the auditors' and audit firms' ability to obtain professional indemnity insurance cover may


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be affected by whether they are subject to unlimited financial liability; for its part, taking

into account the fact that liability regimes of the Member States may vary considerably,

the Directive 2006/43/CE provide the EC commitment to make a report on the impact of

the liability limits, and to carry out, where appropriate, public consultation and , if

appropriate, to submit recommendations to the Member States (art.31).

This level of harmonization of the exercise of financial auditor profession in all EU MS,

facilitate the mobility of professionals across the single market, provided that any auditor who

wishes to establish themselves in another MS than that in which it acquired the qualification

and practiced the profession knows that:

• it must follow the process of recognizing of its qualification as detailed in Chapter 3 of this

guide;

• it will not be authorized by the CA of the host MS unless it has a good reputation;

• it will have to respect the code of ethics and professional conduct adopted by the MS CA

• it will exercise his profession on the same principles of independence, objectivity,

confidentiality and professional secrecy;

• it will continue to apply international auditing standards adopted by the EC (and published

in all languages in the Official Journal of the EU MS);

• it will have to undergo quality assurance reviews at least once every six years or every three

years if it carry out statutory audits for the public interest entities;

• it will need to be informed of the specific requirements of professional liability insurance,

because the liability regime still vary from one MS to another.

But an even higher degree of harmonization / standardization was achieved at the sectoral

level, through the efforts of international and european professional organizations of

professionals in the accounting and financial audit.

The International Federation of Accountants - IFAC (International Federation of

Accountants), established in 1977 by 63 founding members from 51 countries, has now

reached 173 members and associated organizations from 129 countries and jurisdictions

around the world, representing thus about 2.5 million professionals in accounting and

financial audit in the public sector, education, government and private sectors.

In turn, the Fédération des Experts-comptables Européens / Federation of European

Accountants - FEE (Federation of European Accountants) represents more than 700,000

professionals in Europe through its 45 member organizations from 33 European countries,

and also plays the role of Regional Organization of IFAC.

IFAC ensures the development of the accounting professions in the public interest by:

• development of international accounting standards for the public sector (IPSA), financial

audit (ISA), Ethics and Training (IES) , also provision of technical assistance for their

adoption and use;

• facilitating collaboration and cooperation between the member professional bodies;

• collaboration and cooperation with other international organizations;


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• representing the interests of accounting and financial audit professionals internationally.

Therefore, practically there have been adopted at international level:

• IFAC Code of Ethics developed by The International Ethics Standards Board for

Accountants (IESBA), an independent body for development of standards on ethics and

professional conduct for accountants and auditors;

• International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) developed by the International Auditing and

Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) independent body;

• International Training Standards (IESS) developed by the International Accounting

Education Standards Board (IAESB).

The 8 International Training Standards, currently under review, are:

IES 1, Entry Requirements to Professional Accounting Education

IES 2, Initial Professional Development-Technical Competence

IES 3, Initial Professional Development-Professional Skills

IES 4, Initial Professional Development-Professional Values, Ethics, and Attitudes

IES 5, Initial Professional Development—Practical Experience

IES 6 Initial Professional Development – Assessment of Professional Competence

IES 7 Continuing Professional Development

IES 8 Professional Development for Engagement Partners Responsible for Audits of

Financial Statements

In the Table 4.1, we took from the FEE study and from national sources some additional

information on conditions governing the financial auditor profession as well as statistical data

which suggests the size of the professional community of auditors in the 9 analyzed MS.


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Table 4.1

Requirements for the exercise the financial auditor profession in the MS analyzed

MS Austria Czech

Republic


Professional

address

Yes, in any MS of SEE

is requested for Czech residents,

not to foreigners

Not required (establishment /

residence in a MS is

sufficient)

Not required (establishment /

residence in a MS is

sufficient)

Yes, it is required Not necessary. only the contact address is

required

Yes, in the Netherlands

Yes, it is required Yes, necessary for registration into

register

Business

infrastructure

required

Yes - Not required

(establishment / residence in a MS is

sufficient)

Not required

(establishment / residence in a MS is

sufficient)

" stable

infrastructure " (there is no

definition)

Not necessary The auditor must be

in the service of an audit firm authorized

by AFM

Yes, authorized

person or within a financial audit firm

Not necessary

Professional

liability

insurance

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes, for certain

activities

Yes yes, for statutory

audit

Yes, for. statutory

audit and the non-statutory financial

audit

Yes, 300.000

euro/auditor

Number of

qualified

auditors

2.711 natural and

legal persons

(1.01.2011)

1.350 (march

2012)

4.461 (both

professions in 2009)

aprox. 15.000 aprox. 149.000

revisore legale

7,239 registered audit

firms (31/12/2012)

Members from the United Kingdom and

Ireland 2012:

ACCA =77.269

ICAEW=119.179 ICAS=16.933

aprox. 20.500 both

professions

4.251 natural

persons

975 firms (may 2013)

19.616 (March

2011)

Number of

trainees / year

- 80 - 90 220 (both

professions in 2009)

aprox. 500 aprox. 13.000

revisore legale

No. members who have

obtained the

qualification in the audit,

2012:

ACCA = 147 ICAEW= 484

ICAS=1.209

aprox. 900 both

professions

1.640 (may 2013) 900 (aprox. 1.800

every 2 years)

Source: FEE – Key Features on Structure and Organization of the Accountancy Profession across 30 European countries, 26 March 2012; the CA

in the 9 MS For information about the number of members and trainees


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5. CONCLUSIONS

The regulation of professions from the field of accounting, financial audit and tax consultancy

(NACE code 692) is quite diversified in the EU MS - from the distinct regulation of the

accounting profession, of financial auditor profession and that of the tax consultant (e.g.

Romania) to the lack of regulation of any profession except those who have reserved the

statutory audit activity (e.g. Spain).

For the statutory audit services it was reached a high level of harmonization within the EU,

through the transposition of the Directive 2006/43/EC on statutory audits of annual accounts

and consolidated accounts into national legislation of the MS, which provides also the

regulatory framework for the profession of financial auditor, including requirements for

professional qualifications and mutual recognition of qualifications acquired in another MS

than that of establishment / permanent performance of statutory audit services.

The CA for auditors are public bodies in some MS or associations invested by law in other

MS. If it is a ministry or government agency (e.g. Denmark, Italy, UK), the professional

organizations may be invited to become involved in the decisions or have delegated tasks for

competences assessment and certification, registration, continuing professional development

(ex. Great Britain).

In the field of education and continuous vocational training, the assessment of learning results

is already widely used, especially due to the development of procedures independently on

sectoral level at international level (international training standards developed by the IAESB,

professional code of ethics developed by IESBA, international auditing standards developed

by the IAASB, high quality qualifications offered by British institutions, especially the

ACCA, and recognized at international level). Therefore, national authorities tend to have

confidence in the diplomas and the certificates issued by national bodies of other MS, thus

facilitating the mobility of the financial auditors in the EU's internal single market.

According to the Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of qualifications, the financial

auditor profession fall under the general system of recognition of qualifications, to a level of

qualification that certifies successful completion of training courses at post-secondary

education level, university level with a duration of 3-4 years or more than four years.

Taking into account the fact that the financial audit services implies knowledge of

commercial, fiscal and labor legislation of the host MS, the aptitude test as a compensatory

measure in the process of recognition of qualification acquired in another MS is widely used.

The statistics in the IMI system regarding qualifications recognition processes during 1997/8 -

2012 for the establishment / permanent performance demonstrates that the financial auditor

profession is relatively mobile in general terms and among the most mobile professions in the

field of accounting, auditing financial and the tax consultancy (position 45 of the 448 generic

categories of professions for which were recorded decisions of recognition during this period,

if we consider the 927 decisions were adopted strictly for financial auditor qualification


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recognition, regardless of the generic category in which the respective regulated professions

were registered).

Moreover, the process of globalization, on the one hand and the international re-regulation of

financial services, from the financial and economic crisis in 2007, on the other hand,

determines the need for financial and audit professionals to follow the clients within the

internationalization process of their businesses.


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BIBLIOGRAPHY

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, OJ L 157, 9.6.2006, at

http://www.justice.gov.md/file/Centrul%20de%20armonizare%20a%20legislatiei/Baza%20de%20

date/Materiale%202010/Legislatie/32006L0043-Ro.PDF

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aq_en.pdf

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future/cocon_en.pdf

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FRC – Key Facts and Trends in the Accountancy Profession, June 2013, at http://www.frc.org.uk/

Our-Work/Publications/Professional-Oversight/Key-Facts-and-Trends-in-the-Accountancy-

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May 2013, at http://www.ifac.org/sites/default/files/publications/files/2013-IESBA-Handbook.pdf

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files/handbook-of-international-e-2.pdf

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supplementing the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 90/2008 on statutar audit of annual

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http://www.ifac.org/sites/default/files/publications/files/Volume%201_0.pdf


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ABBREVIATIONS

AAT - Association of Accounting Technicians (Association of Accounting Technicians from United

Kingdom witch award the AAT qualification)

AC/CA – Competent Authority (for one or more regulated professions)

ACA - Associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (intermediate

qualification of ICAEW)

ACCA – Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (Association of Chartered Certified

Accountants in the United Kingdom)

AeQ - Arbeitsausschuss für externe Qualitätsprüfungen (Executive Committee for quality external

audits in Austria)

AFM - Dutch Authority for Financial Markets

ANC/NAQ – National Authority for Qualifications (from Romania)

APAK - Abschlussprüfe-raufsichtskommission (Supervisory Commission of Auditors in Germany)

APOC - Audit Oversight Public Council (in Czech Republic)

CAEN/NACE - National Classification of Economic Activities

CAFR – Chamber of Financial Auditors of Romania

CAT - Certified Accounting Technician (Certified Accounting Technician, qualification in the United

Kingdom)

CE/EC – European Commission

CEA - Commissie Eindtermen Accountantsopleiding (Commission for admission to the aptitude

test held by the NBA in the Netherlands)

CFAB – Certificate in Finance, Accountancy and Business (Certificate in Finance, Accounting and

Business - qualification from the United Kingdom)

Consob - Commissione Nazionale per la Societa e la Borsa (Investor Protection Supervisory

Authority in Italy)

CSIPPC – Council for the Public Interest Oversight of the Accountancy Profession (in

Romania)

CSPAAS - Council for the Public Oversight for Statutory Auditing (in Romania, transformed to

CSIPPC)

DCCA - Erhvervsstyrelsen/Danish Commerce and Company Agency (Danish Commerce and

Companies Agency)


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DG/GD – General Directorate

DSAA - The Supervisory Authority on Auditing (he Supervisory Authority on Auditing in Denmark)

EFP/EVT - Education and vocational training

FEE – Fédération des Experts-comptables Européens/ Federation of European Accountants (Federation

of European Accountants)

FPC/CVT – Continuous Vocational Training

FRC – Financial Reporting Council (Financial Reporting Council in United Kingdom)

HGB - Handelsgesetzbuch (German Commercial Code)

IAASA - The Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority

IAASB - International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board

IAESB – International Accounting Education Standards Board

ICAC - Instituto de Contabilidad y Auditoria de Cuentas (Institute for Accounting and Auditing of

Accounts in Spain)

ICAEW - Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales

ICAS - Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland

IESs – International Training Standards (developed by IAESB)

IESBA - The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants

IFAC – International Federation of Accountants

IMI – Internal Market Information system (Internal Single Market Information system in EU)

IMM/SMEs – Small and Medium Enterprises

IPS - Institute for Social Policy (in Romania)

JO – Official Journal of UE

KACR - Komora auditorů ČR (Chamber of Auditors of the Czech Republic)

KWT - Kammer der Wirtschaftstreuhänder (Austrian Chamber of Public Accountants)

MEN – Ministry of National Education (in Romania)

MO – Official Journal (in Romania)

NBA - The Institute which is the CA for financial audit regulated profession in the Netherlands

NIVRA - Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut van Registeraccountants (Royal Institute of Chartered

Registered Accountants in the Netherlands, which merged with NovAA forming the

NBA Institute)


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NovAA – Nederlandse Orde van Accountants Administratieconsulenten (The Netherlands Order of

Accounting Consultants in the Netherlands, which merged with NIVRA forming

NBA Institute)

OG/GO - Government Ordinance (in Romania)

OKB - Qualitätskontrollbehörde (Austrian Auditors Supervisory Authority)

OUG/GEO - Government Emergency Ordinance (in Romania)

POB - Professional Oversight Board (Professional Oversight Board in the United Kingdom)

SEE/EEA – European Economic Area (all EU MS + Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway)

SM/MS – Member State (of the European Union)

UE/EU – European Union

WP/vBP - Berufssatzung (Charter of Professions in Germany)

WPK - Wirtschaftsprüfer-kammer (Chamber of Public Accountants, CA for financial auditors in

Germany)

WPO - Gesetz über eine Berufsordnung der Wirtschaftsprüfer (Law on Public Accountant in

Germany)

WT-Arl - Directive on practice of public accounting profession in Austrasia

WTBG - Wirtschaftstreuhandberufsgesets (Statute of public accountants’ professional practice in

Austria)


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USEFUL LINKS

• List of national supervisory bodies of public interest

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/auditing/links/index_en.htm

• EC Regulations adopting international accounting standards -

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/accounting/legal_framework/regulations_adopting_ias/ori

ginal_text_en.htm

• EC database of the regulated professions in the MS –

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/regprof/index.cfm?newlang=en

• National Contact Points for qualifications recognition from MS


• MS SOLVIT Centers http://ec.europa.eu/solvit

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/auditing/links/index_en.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/accounting/legal_framework/regulations_adopting_ias/original_text_en.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/accounting/legal_framework/regulations_adopting_ias/original_text_en.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/regprof/index.cfm?newlang=en


http://ec.europa.eu/solvit

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