The European Commission should review new segmental reporting standards in two years, on top of the IASB’s review, an influential MEP has said.

The proposal comes from a draft motion on the issue, which the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee will vote on next week.

The commitee’s chairwoman, Pervenche Berés, told a meeting in Strasbourg this week that convergence between US and EU accounting rules should not just mean ‘cutting and pasting’ US rules for the EU.

The committee has been tasked with deciding whether to support the EC’s proposal to adopt segmental reporting standard, IFRS 8.

The moves came as a surprise, given that a report presented to the committee two weeks ago by the Internal Markets Commission suggested supporting the standard.
The standard has been widely contested by investors and campaigners who have lobbied for country-by-country reporting.

Both Berès and German MEP Alexander Radwan emphasised the need to preserve and make full use of parliament’s legitimate role in the approval of accounting standards.

The committee is expected to vote on adoption on 3 October.