Accounting Regulation in the European Union

Abstract

We provide a comprehensive overview of accounting-related regulatory changes (financial accounting, auditing, tax, other disclosures) in the 27 EU countries and the UK since the EU’s inception in 1993 (Maastricht Treaty) based on an extensive literature review, a survey, as well as input by country and topic academic experts. The accompanying website (http://www.eu-regulations.com) provides visual representations of these events by country, a short description of the regulations, links to selected relevant literature references, and to the regulations themselves. Our aim is threefold. First, we lower the cost for researchers, reviewers, and editors to become acquainted with the rich regulatory setting of each EU country over time. For example, we describe the different layers of the regulatory framework, and variations across and even within Member States. Second, the overview of regulatory changes helps improve research designs by identifying events that may coincide with the regulatory event of interest. Third, we provide researchers with insight into available research opportunities to address their research questions when using the EU or a particular EU country as a laboratory.

Keywords: accounting regulation, European Union, financial accounting, tax, auditing, disclosure regulation