FEE issues views on the development of consistent high quality non-financial reporting in Europe

This Position Paper highlights the requirements of the EU Directive on disclosure of non-financial and diversity information, which is due to be transposed into Member States’ national laws by 6 December 2016. Those companies affected will need to comply with the national rules from 2017 onwards; the European Commission is in the process of developing non-binding guidelines to assist them in complying with these requirements.

The Directive requires 6,000 large European companies to disclose information at least on environmental, social, and employee-related matters, as well as on the respect for human rights, anti-corruption, and bribery issues. These companies also have to disclose the diversity policy for their administrative, management and supervisory boards.

This Directive represents the most significant EU legislative initiative in respect of such environmental, social and governance disclosure in nearly a decade and is likely to have a significant impact on the non-financial information (NFI) reporting of many of the companies affected. This paper sets out what the NFI Directive means in practice, discusses the key issues around implementing the requirements, and provides some real-world examples of how the requirements can be met.

Related documents:
FEE Position Paper on EU Directive on disclosure of non-financial and diversity information – Achieving good quality and consistent reporting
Appendix

Related FEE work:
 FEE Position Paper on EU Directive on disclosure of non-financial and diversity information – The role of practitioners in providing assurance