Lithuania, which has held the Presidency of the Council since the 1st July 2013 for the first time, will be dealing with over 300 legislative proposals, half of these relating to the recent political agreement on the Multi-annual Financial Framework for 2014-2020.

This presidency will be the last full-term tenure of the current legislative cycle before the European Parliament elections in May 2014. ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) therefore believes that Vilnius could play a very important role if it manages to finalise the outstanding - as well as forthcoming - challenges in the next 6 months.

Ewan Willars, ACCA director of policy says: “In the difficult current economic climate, Lithuania – where ACCA has some 524 students, 12 affiliates and 101 members - has the opportunity to make a real difference. This can be done by taking the right steps to ensure that EU legislation - and other structures that come out of it - are robust and will benefit, rather than harm businesses, especially small businesses, which are so crucial for Europe’s economic recovery. We namely believe particular attention should be brought to the implementation of the  enterprise competitiveness and SME (COSME) programme.

“ACCA fully supports the strapline of the Lithuanian Presidency, which is 'a Credible, Growing and Open European Union'. The presidency has a demanding policy programme in the next 6 months ahead. They will have to work towards their overarching objectives, including the promotion of economic growth and competitiveness, reducing unemployment and boosting job creation, ensuring financial stability and energy security, and further strengthening of coordination of EU economic and monetary policies.“

The global accountancy body hopes that a close and fruitful collaboration with the Parliament will be possible to progress these objectives. ACCA calls on the co-legislators to find appropriate compromises on existing files linked to the completion of the Single Market, such as the audit reform, the non-financial reporting proposals, and anti-money laundering, issues which are particularly close to the heart of its members.

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For more information, please contact:

Cecile Bonino

+32 (0) 2 286 11 37

Cecile.bonino@accaglobal.com

Notes to Editors

1.         ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) is the global body for professional accountants. We aim to offer business-relevant, first-choice qualifications to people of application, ability and ambition around the world who seek a rewarding career in accountancy, finance and management.

2.         We support our 162,000 members and 426,000 students in 170 countries, helping them to develop successful careers in accounting and business, with the skills required by employers. We work through a network of over 89 offices and centres and more than 8,500 Approved Employers worldwide, who provide high standards of employee learning and development. Through our public interest remit, we promote appropriate regulation of accounting and conduct relevant research to ensure accountancy continues to grow in reputation and influence.

3.         Founded in 1904, ACCA has consistently held unique core values: opportunity, diversity, innovation, integrity and accountability. We believe that accountants bring value to economies in all stages of development and seek to develop capacity in the profession and encourage the adoption of global standards. Our values are aligned to the needs of employers in all sectors and we ensure that through our qualifications, we prepare accountants for business. We seek to open up the profession to people of all backgrounds and remove artificial barriers, innovating our qualifications and delivery to meet the diverse needs of trainee professionals and their employers.

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