EU Ministers agreed in paving the way for the start of negotiations with the European Parliament with a view to the swift adoption for the draft directive on the review of accounting requirements for companies. This draft directive is one of the priority actions of the Single Market Act for growth creation to be adopted by the Council and the European Parliament in 2012.

A general approach on the draft directive on the review of accounting requirements for companies has been adopted by the Council on 21 of June. The key objectives of the review are the reduction of administrative burden and the application of simplified accounting rules, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); to increase the clarity and comparability of financial statements; and to enhance transparency on payments made to governments by the extractive industry and loggers of primary forest. In February 2012, it was adopted the European Directive to exempts micro-enterprises from accounting and financial reporting obligations.

In addition, under the general approach, large undertakings and public-interest entities which are active in the extractive industry or logging of primary forests should disclose payments made to governments in the countries in which they operate if the total amount of payments exceeds €500,000. Moreover, it is also included the proposal for an obligation to report on payments made by the extractive industry and loggers of primary forest to goverments (also referred to as country-by-country reporting) as a part of the Commission's "socially responsible business" strategy.

The new draft directive will modernize the "accounting directives". The accounting directives deal with the annual and consolidated financial statements of limited liability companies in Europe. These are the Fourth Council Directive on the annual accounts of certain types of companies (78/660/EEC), and the Seventh Council Directive on consolidated accounts (83/349/EEC).