Appendix III CEIOPS-SEC-182-10 - CEIOPS Response to EU COM Green Paper on Audit Policy

CEIOPS-SEC-182/10 December 2010 1CEIOPS response to European Commission Green Paper on Audit Policy: Lessons from the Crisis 1. CEIOPS welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Commission’s Green Paper “Audit Policy: Lessons from the Crisis”. The financial crisis and its spread over to the global financial system have revealed the critical importance of enhancing financial stability in the EU and improving the existing arrangements for European financial regulation and supervision. 2. The Green Paper is an important step in the right direction, providing a sound analysis of the challenges facing audit. Therefore we would like to express our support for the EC’s project to analyse and discuss the role and scope of audit. CEIOPS looks forward to contributing further to this important area of work. 3. In CEIOPS’ view stakeholders’ confidence in audited financial statements is an important element of the proper functioning of the financial markets. 4. The proposed initiatives will have an impact not only on cross sectoral and sectoral regulation, but also on the domestic legal arrangements of each Member State and CEIOPS thereby acknowledges the complexity of the issues discussed. 5. Furthermore, insurance supervisors use the audited financial statements – and in several jurisdictions also the audited supervisory reports – as an essential source of information in the supervision of undertakings. 6. Besides, CEIOPS ...