Directive 2006/43/EC of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

Article 40 Transparency report

1. Member States shall ensure that statutory auditors and audit firms that carry out statutory audit(s) of public-interest entities publish on their websites, within three months of the end of each financial year, annual transparency reports that include at least the following:

(a) a description of the legal structure and ownership;

(b) where the audit firm belongs to a network, a description of the network and the legal and structural arrangements in the network;

(c) a description of the governance structure of the audit firm;

(d) a description of the internal quality control system of the audit firm and a statement by the administrative or management body on the effectiveness of its functioning;

(e) an indication of when the last quality assurance review referred to in Article 29 took place;

(f) a list of public-interest entities for which the audit firm has carried out statutory audits during the preceding financial year;

(g) a statement concerning the audit firm's independence practices which also confirms that an internal review of independence compliance has been conducted;

(h) a statement on the policy followed by the audit firm concerning the continuing education of statutory auditors referred to in Article 13;

(i) financial information showing the importance of the audit firm, such as the total turnover divided into fees from the statutory audit of annual and consolidated accounts, and fees charged for other assurance services, tax advisory services and other non-audit services;

(j) information concerning the basis for the partners' remuneration.

Member States may in exceptional circumstances disapply the requirement in point (f) to the extent necessary to mitigate an imminent and significant threat to the personal security of any person.

2. The transparency report shall be signed by the statutory auditor or audit firm, as the case may be. This can be done, for example, by means of an electronic signature as defined in Article 2(1) of Directive 1999/93/EC.