Talking about financial reporting is an abstract topic for many. Even more if the topic of the speech is about the European directive on the regulation of auditing companies. Still the first topic of the GRC track on ARIS Process World drew many people into room C. This is remarkable as for many the end of last night’s evening event was only hours away.
Most remarkable was the clear and precise way Anne-Francoise Melot of the European Commission, Directorate General for internal markets and services was able to give an overview on the directive and its implications to companies. As she clearly pointed out, the directive will not be a European version of SOX. For sure the approaches and mechanics will be similar but the needed effort to achieve compliance will be very low in comparison.
The 8th directive is in place now and the EU countries are in the process to implement the necessary national laws to follow. In Italy this is law 262, in Germany the BilMoG and other laws cover that topic. One could even say that the Swiss "Obligationenrecht" is an implementation of the 8th directive - even if the Swiss are not part of the EU.
The participants honored this presentation with applause and many stayed to further hear about the aspects of "EURO-SOX" and other GRC related topics to come.
