Perspectives

The July 2004 issue of PWC Investment Management Perspectives (Google has stumbled across it only now for some reason) has a good section on pan-European pensions. While some of the transposition information is naturally dated by now, the fundamental arguments remain the same. I also like the figure on page 45 which displays the tax regimes of non-EET countries with regards to occupational pensions.

Commission takes action

The EU Commission has issued a reasoned opinion against Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Italy, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and the United Kingdom for non- or partial transposition of the Pensions Directive into their national law, thereby capturing all the member states that it has identified earlier for lagging. The next step in the infringement proceedings according to Art. 226 EU Treaty would be court action in front of the ECJ after two months time (via IPE).

Convergence

I've been invited to speak at the IASC Foundation Conference in Frankfurt about financial analysts' views on convergence of accounting standards, specifically the convergence of US GAAP and IFRS. Rather than going into the details, I addressed the direction which convergence should take in the longer term by summarising the 12 principles of the Comprehensive Business Reporting Modell of the CFA Institute. There were a lot of sceptic vibes to be felt from the huge audience (some 400 people), especially from preparers of financial statements about the full fair value postulate. But there you are: debate is only advanced by bold ideas - I think I can say that since those ideas are not mine alone. The presentation is available online.

The end of net income?

It was very interesting to participate in a rather controversial roundtable organised by Université Paris-Dauphine on the subject of net income and performance reporting. The fact that the event was held in French posed quite a challenge, but I hope that my presentation was comprehensible nonetheless.

Coming of age of pan-European Pensions

Being on the CFA Institute Retainer Speaker Programme, I was invited to give a presentation to CFA Romania, following the Head of the Bucharest Stock Exchange. It was a pleasure to comply with that request of course, especially since the event was combined with the CFA Award ceremony. After Warsaw, Vienna, Budapest, Madrid and Sofia, this was already the sixth opportunity for me to advance my topic of preference. The presentation is available online.