Álit: tímarit löggiltra endurskoðenda - 01.01.1993, Page 20

Björn Markland, Secretary of the Nordic Federation of Accountants (NRF)
EFFECTS OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AREA ON
THE WORK AND WORKING CONDITIONS OF
ACCOUNTANTS IN SCANDINAVIA
Iceland and the other EFTA countries have
entered into the EEA agreement. Admittedly, there
are still a few steps to walk before we can say that
we are really at the end of the road. And the road
itself has been bumpy indeed. On several occasions
so-called major breakthroughs have been
announced by the negotiators. The Swedish Prime
Minister remarked some time ago that the difficult
negotiations had, at least, brought one important
advantage: champagne bottles had been opened in
his office each time everybody believed that the
agreement was finally there. “Which means”, he
said, “about once a month.” Let us assume,
however, that what remains is formalities. Let us
assume that the EEA agreement is there. It is a
tremendous document. It contains 129 articles and
is supplemented by numerous protocols and no less
than 1,500 acts of legislation as appendices. By any
comparison it is the most comprehensive single
agreement ever to be negotiated by any of the
parties involved.
EEA means changes.
The EEA agreement will mean changes to the
accountancy profession: immediate changes,
changes in many professional areas, and changes in
our every day working environment. Immediate
changes, since most of the implementation work
will have to be completed by 30 June 1995, little
more than two years from now, subject of course to
the final ratification of the agreement. Two years is
a very short time. National legislation will have to
be passed. Professional standards will have to be
adjusted and amended. Education will have to be
provided, to those who are aware of the need for it
and, more important, to those who will have to be
informed of the need. You will allow me the
personal remark that the professional bodies in a
country - be it in the accountancy, law, medical, or
any profession - have an important responsibility to
inform their members, and that the professionals
themselves have the corresponding responsibility in
relation to their clients. Changes in many areas,
such as accounting standards, the regulation of the
accounting profession, company law and tax law, to
mention but a few examples. Not all the changes
will be interpreted as signs of progress. In the field
of company law, for instance, there is no doubt that
much of the harmonised legislation that was
introduced in the Nordic countries in the 1970’s is
more modem than the E.C. directives, and that
some of the changes that will accompany the EEA
harmonisation will be steps backward rather than
forward. Still, that is the price for European
harmonisation. Finally - and perhaps most
important - changes in our environment, changes
related to the fact that we will live and work in the
new, European scene. We must never forget that the
accounting profession is a part of the society, and of
the business community. The technical
considerations at a seminar like this one are only
part of the professional life. Accountants who work
in public practice will face clients who gradually
adjust to the European concept and who expect their
accountants to keep pace with their new thinking.
Accountants in industry, in the public sector, and in
the academe will meet the same challenge.
The E.C. rules.
Among the documents that form “l’acquis
communautaire”, or the law of the European
Community, the most important are those that form
the very “constitution” of the Community. In this
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