Although the audit of these accounts is not yet completed, it is worth highlighting that the previous five annual accounts received a “clean bill of health” from the European Court of Auditors. The information in the 2012 consolidated accounts of the EU should provide a solid basis for the decision making process of readers of the accounts (e.g. MEPs and representatives of Member States) and for the accountability of financial actors involved in the financial management of the EU budget.
Financial reporting, such as these annual accounts, will gain even more importance in the future since the Commission is involved in the creation of European Public Sector Accounting Standards (EPSAS) for EU Member States. These standards will likely be inspired by the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), the reference framework already applied in preparing the EU accounts for many years.
