Audit fees
1. Fees for the provision of statutory audits to public-interest entities shall not be contingent fees.
Without prejudice to Article 25 of Directive 2006/43/EC, for the purposes of the first subparagraph, contingent fees means fees for audit engagements calculated on a predetermined basis relating to the outcome or result of a transaction or the result of the work performed. Fees shall not be regarded as being contingent if a court or a competent authority has established them.
2. When the statutory auditor or the audit firm provides to the audited entity, its parent undertaking or its controlled undertakings, for a period of three or more consecutive financial years, non-audit services other than those referred to in Article 5(1) of this Regulation, the total fees for such services shall be limited to no more than 70 % of the average of the fees paid in the last three consecutive financial years for the statutory audit(s) of the audited entity and, where applicable, of its parent undertaking, of its controlled undertakings and of the consolidated financial statements of that group of undertakings.
For the purposes of the limits specified in the first subparagraph, non-audit services, other than those referred to in Article 5(1), required by Union or national legislation shall be excluded.
Member States may provide that a competent authority may, upon a request by the statutory auditor or the audit firm, on an exceptional basis, allow that statutory auditor or audit firm to be exempt from the requirements in the first subparagraph in respect of an audited entity for a period not exceeding two financial years.
3. When the total fees received from a public-interest entity in each of the last three consecutive financial years are more than 15 % of the total fees received by the statutory auditor or the audit firm or, where applicable, by the group auditor carrying out the statutory audit, in each of those financial years, such a statutory auditor or audit firm or, as the case may be, group auditor, shall disclose that fact to the audit committee and discuss with the audit committee the threats to their independence and the safeguards applied to mitigate those threats. The audit committee shall consider whether the audit engagement should be subject to an engagement quality control review by another statutory auditor or audit firm prior to the issuance of the audit report.
Where the fees received from such a public-interest entity continue to exceed 15 % of the total fees received by such a statutory auditor or audit firm or, as the case may be, by a group auditor carrying out the statutory audit, the audit committee shall decide on the basis of objective grounds whether the statutory auditor or the audit firm or the group auditor, of such an entity or group of entities may continue to carry out the statutory audit for an additional period which shall not, in any case, exceed two years.
4. Member States may apply more stringent requirements than set out in this Article.
Prohibition of the provision of non-audit services
1. A statutory auditor or an audit firm carrying out the statutory audit of a public-interest entity, or any member of the network to which the statutory auditor or the audit firm belongs, shall not directly or indirectly provide to the audited entity, to its parent undertaking or to its controlled undertakings within the Union any prohibited non-audit services in:
(a)
the period between the beginning of the period audited and the issuing of the audit report; and
(b)
the financial year immediately preceding the period referred to in point (a) in relation to the services listed in point (g) of the second subparagraph.
For the purposes of this Article, prohibited non-audit services shall mean:
(a)
tax services relating to:
(i)
preparation of tax forms;
(ii)
payroll tax;
(iii)
customs duties;
(iv)
identification of public subsidies and tax incentives unless support from the statutory auditor or the audit firm in respect of such services is required by law;
(v)
support regarding tax inspections by tax authorities unless support from the statutory auditor or the audit firm in respect of such inspections is required by law;
(vi)
calculation of direct and indirect tax and deferred tax;
(vii)
provision of tax advice;
(b)
services that involve playing any part in the management or decision-making of the audited entity;
(c)
bookkeeping and preparing accounting records and financial statements;
(d)
payroll services;
(e)
designing and implementing internal control or risk management procedures related to the preparation and/or control of financial information or designing and implementing financial information technology systems;
(f)
valuation services, including valuations performed in connection with actuarial services or litigation support services;
(g)
legal services, with respect to:
(i)
the provision of general counsel;
(ii)
negotiating on behalf of the audited entity; and
(iii)
acting in an advocacy role in the resolution of litigation;
(h)
services related to the audited entity's internal audit function;
(i)
services linked to the financing, capital structure and allocation, and investment strategy of the audited entity, except providing assurance services in relation to the financial statements, such as the issuing of comfort letters in connection with prospectuses issued by the audited entity;
(j)
promoting, dealing in, or underwriting shares in the audited entity;
(k)
human resources services, with respect to:
(i)
management in a position to exert significant influence over the preparation of the accounting records or financial statements which are the subject of the statutory audit, where such services involve:
—
searching for or seeking out candidates for such position; or
—
undertaking reference checks of candidates for such positions;
(ii)
structuring the organisation design; and
(iii)
cost control.
2. Member States may prohibit services other than those listed in paragraph 1 where they consider that those services represent a threat to independence. Member States shall communicate to the Commission any additions to the list in paragraph 1.
3. By way of derogation from the second subparagraph of paragraph 1, Member States may allow the provision of the services referred to in points (a) (i), (a) (iv) to (a) (vii) and (f), provided that the following requirements are complied with:
(a)
they have no direct or have immaterial effect, separately or in the aggregate on the audited financial statements;
(b)
the estimation of the effect on the audited financial statements is comprehensively documented and explained in the additional report to the audit committee referred to in Article 11; and
(c)
the principles of independence laid down in Directive 2006/43/EC are complied with by the statutory auditor or the audit firm.
4. A statutory auditor or an audit firm carrying out statutory audits of public-interest entities and, where the statutory auditor or the audit firm belongs to a network, any member of such network, may provide to the audited entity, to its parent undertaking or to its controlled undertakings non-audit services other than the prohibited non-audit services referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 subject to the approval of the audit committee after it has properly assessed threats to independence and the safeguards applied in accordance with Article 22b of Directive 2006/43/EC. The audit committee shall, where applicable, issue guidelines with regard to the services referred to in paragraph 3.
Member States may establish stricter rules setting out the conditions under which a statutory auditor, an audit firm or a member of a network to which the statutory auditor or audit firm belongs may provide to the audited entity, to its parent undertaking or to its controlled undertakings non-audit services other than the prohibited non-audit services referred to in paragraph 1.
5. When a member of a network to which the statutory auditor or the audit firm carrying out a statutory audit of a public-interest entity belongs provides any of the non-audit services, referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article, to an undertaking incorporated in a third country which is controlled by the audited public-interest entity, the statutory auditor or the audit firm concerned shall assess whether his, her or its independence would be compromised by such provision of services by the member of the network.
If his, her or its independence is affected, the statutory auditor or the audit firm shall apply safeguards where applicable in order to mitigate the threats caused by such provision of services in a third country. The statutory auditor or the audit firm may continue to carry out the statutory audit of the public-interest entity only if he, she or it can justify, in accordance with Article 6 of this Regulation and Article 22b of Directive 2006/43/EC, that such provision of services does not affect his, her or its professional judgement and the audit report.
For the purposes of this paragraph:
(a)
being involved in the decision-taking of the audited entity and the provision of the services referred to in points (b), (c) and (e) of the second subparagraph of paragraph 1 shall be deemed to affect such independence in all cases and to be incapable of mitigation by any safeguards.
(b)
provision of the services referred to in the second subparagraph of paragraph 1 other than points (b), (c) and (e) thereof shall be deemed to affect such independence and therefore to require safeguards to mitigate the threats caused thereby.
Preparation for the statutory audit and assessment of threats to independence
1. Before accepting or continuing an engagement for a statutory audit of a public- interest entity, a statutory auditor or an audit firm shall assess and document, in addition to the provisions of Article 22b of Directive 2006/43/EC, the following:
(a)
whether he, she or it complies with the requirements of Articles 4 and 5 of this Regulation;
(b)
whether the conditions of Article 17 of this Regulation are complied with;
(c)
without prejudice to Directive 2005/60/EC, the integrity of the members of the supervisory, administrative and management bodies of the public-interest entity.
2. A statutory auditor or an audit firm shall:
(a)
confirm annually in writing to the audit committee that the statutory auditor, the audit firm and partners, senior managers and managers, conducting the statutory audit are independent from the audited entity;
(b)
discuss with the audit committee the threats to their independence and the safeguards applied to mitigate those threats, as documented by them pursuant to paragraph 1.
Irregularities
Without prejudice to Article 12 of this Regulation and Directive 2005/60/EC, when a statutory auditor or an audit firm carrying out the statutory audit of a public-interest entity suspects or has reasonable grounds to suspect that irregularities, including fraud with regard to the financial statements of the audited entity, may occur or have occurred, he, she or it shall inform the audited entity and invite it to investigate the matter and take appropriate measures to deal with such irregularities and to prevent any recurrence of such irregularities in the future.
Where the audited entity does not investigate the matter, the statutory auditor or the audit firm shall inform the authorities as designated by the Member States responsible for investigating such irregularities.
The disclosure in good faith to those authorities, by the statutory auditor or the audit firm, of any irregularities referred to in the first subparagraph shall not constitute a breach of any contractual or legal restriction on disclosure of information.
Engagement quality control review
1. Before the reports referred to in Articles 10 and 11 are issued, an engagement quality control review (in this Article hereinafter referred to as: review) shall be performed to assess whether the statutory auditor or the key audit partner could reasonably have come to the opinion and conclusions expressed in the draft of these reports.
2. The review shall be performed by an engagement quality control reviewer (in this Article hereinafter referred to as: reviewer). The reviewer shall be a statutory auditor who is not involved in the performance of the statutory audit to which the review relates.
3. By way of derogation from paragraph 2, where the statutory audit is carried out by an audit firm and all the statutory auditors were involved in the carrying-out of the statutory audit, or where the statutory audit is carried out by a statutory auditor and the statutory auditor is not a partner or employee of an audit firm, he, she or it shall arrange for another statutory auditor to perform a review. The disclosure of documents or information to the independent reviewer for the purposes of this Article shall not constitute a breach of professional secrecy. Documents or information disclosed to the reviewer for the purposes of this Article shall be subject to professional secrecy.
4. When performing the review, the reviewer shall record at least the following:
(a)
the oral and written information provided by the statutory auditor or the key audit partner to support the significant judgements as well as the main findings of the audit procedures carried out and the conclusions drawn from those findings, whether or not at the request of the reviewer;
(b)
the opinions of the statutory auditor or the key audit partner, as expressed in the draft of the reports referred to in Articles 10 and 11;
5. The review shall at least assess the following elements:
(a)
the independence of the statutory auditor or the audit firm from the audited entity;
(b)
the significant risks which are relevant to the statutory audit and which the statutory auditor or the key audit partner has identified during the performance of the statutory audit and the measures that he or she has taken to adequately manage those risks;
(c)
the reasoning of the statutory auditor or the key audit partner, in particular with regard to the level of materiality and the significant risks referred to in point (b);
(d)
any request for advice to external experts and the implementation of such advice;
(e)
the nature and scope of the corrected and uncorrected misstatements in the financial statements that were identified during the carrying out of the audit;
(f)
the subjects discussed with the audit committee and the management and/or supervisory bodies of the audited entity;
(g)
the subjects discussed with competent authorities and, where applicable, with other third parties;
(h)
whether the documents and information selected from the file by the reviewer support the opinion of the statutory auditor or the key audit partner as expressed in the draft of the reports referred to in Articles 10 and 11.
6. The reviewer shall discuss the results of the review with the statutory auditor or the key audit partner. The audit firm shall establish procedures for determining the manner in which any disagreement between the key audit partner and the reviewer are to be resolved.
7. The statutory auditor or the audit firm and the reviewer shall keep a record of the results of the review, together with the considerations underlying those results.
International auditing standards
The Commission shall be empowered to adopt by means of delegated acts in accordance with Article 39 the international auditing standards referred to in Article 26 of Directive 2006/43/EC in the area of audit practice, and the independence and internal quality controls of statutory auditors and audit firms for the purposes of their application within the Union, provided they meet the requirements of points (a), (b) and (c) of Article 26(3) of Directive 2006/43/EC and do not amend any of the requirements of this Regulation or supplement any of its requirements apart from those set out in Articles 7, 8 and 18 of this Regulation.
Audit report
1. The statutory auditor(s) or the audit firm(s) shall present the results of the statutory audit of the public-interest entity in an audit report.
2. The audit report shall be prepared in accordance with the provisions of Article 28 of Directive 2006/43/EC and in addition shall at least:
(a)
state by whom or by which body the statutory auditor(s) or the audit firm(s) was (were) appointed;
(b)
indicate the date of the appointment and the period of total uninterrupted engagement including previous renewals and reappointments of the statutory auditors or the audit firms;
(c)
provide, in support of the audit opinion, the following:
(i)
a description of the most significant assessed risks of material misstatement, including assessed risks of material misstatement due to fraud;
(ii)
a summary of the auditor's response to those risks; and
(iii)
where relevant, key observations arising with respect to those risks.
Where relevant to the above information provided in the audit report concerning each significant assessed risk of material misstatement, the audit report shall include a clear reference to the relevant disclosures in the financial statements.
(d)
explain to what extent the statutory audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud;
(e)
confirm that the audit opinion is consistent with the additional report to the audit committee referred to in Article 11;
(f)
declare that the prohibited non-audit services referred to in Article 5(1) were not provided and that the statutory auditor(s) or the audit firm(s) remained independent of the audited entity in conducting the audit;
(g)
indicate any services, in addition to the statutory audit, which were provided by the statutory auditor or the audit firm to the audited entity and its controlled undertaking(s), and which have not been disclosed in the management report or financial statements.
Member States may lay down additional requirements in relation to the content of the audit report.
3. Except as required by point (e) of paragraph 2 the audit report shall not contain any cross-references to the additional report to the audit committee referred to in Article 11. The audit report shall be in clear and unambiguous language.
4. The statutory auditor or the audit firm shall not use the name of any competent authority in a way that would indicate or suggest endorsement or approval by that authority of the audit report.
Additional report to the audit committee
1. Statutory auditors or audit firms carrying out statutory audits of public-interest entities shall submit an additional report to the audit committee of the audited entity not later than the date of submission of the audit report referred to in Article 10. Member States may additionally require that this additional report be submitted to the administrative or supervisory body of the audited entity.
If the audited entity does not have an audit committee, the additional report shall be submitted to the body performing equivalent functions within the audited entity. Member States may allow the audit committee to disclose that additional report to such third parties as are provided for in their national law.
2. The additional report to the audit committee shall be in writing. It shall explain the results of the statutory audit carried out and shall at least:
(a)
include the declaration of independence referred to in point (a) of Article 6(2);
(b)
where the statutory audit was carried out by an audit firm, the report shall identify each key audit partner involved in the audit;
(c)
where the statutory auditor or the audit firm has made arrangements for any of his, her or its activities to be conducted by another statutory auditor or audit firm that is not a member of the same network, or has used the work of external experts, the report shall indicate that fact and shall confirm that the statutory auditor or the audit firm received a confirmation from the other statutory auditor or audit firm and/or the external expert regarding their independence;
(d)
describe the nature, frequency and extent of communication with the audit committee or the body performing equivalent functions within the audited entity, the management body and the administrative or supervisory body of the audited entity, including the dates of meetings with those bodies;
(e)
include a description of the scope and timing of the audit;
(f)
where more than one statutory auditor or audit firm have been appointed, describe the distribution of tasks among the statutory auditors and/or the audit firms;
(g)
describe the methodology used, including which categories of the balance sheet have been directly verified and which categories have been verified based on system and compliance testing, including an explanation of any substantial variation in the weighting of system and compliance testing when compared to the previous year, even if the previous year's statutory audit was carried out by other statutory auditor(s) or audit firm(s);
(h)
disclose the quantitative level of materiality applied to perform the statutory audit for the financial statements as a whole and where applicable the materiality level or levels for particular classes of transactions, account balances or disclosures, and disclose the qualitative factors which were considered when setting the level of materiality;
(i)
report and explain judgements about events or conditions identified in the course of the audit that may cast significant doubt on the entity's ability to continue as a going concern and whether they constitute a material uncertainty, and provide a summary of all guarantees, comfort letters, undertakings of public intervention and other support measures that have been taken into account when making a going concern assessment;
(j)
report on any significant deficiencies in the audited entity's or, in the case of consolidated financial statements, the parent undertaking's internal financial control system, and/or in the accounting system. For each such significant deficiency, the additional report shall state whether or not the deficiency in question has been resolved by the management;
(k)
report any significant matters involving actual or suspected non-compliance with laws and regulations or articles of association which were identified in the course of the audit, in so far as they are considered to be relevant in order to enable the audit committee to fulfil its tasks;
(l)
report and assess the valuation methods applied to the various items in the annual or consolidated financial statements including any impact of changes of such methods;
(m)
in the case of a statutory audit of consolidated financial statements, explain the scope of consolidation and the exclusion criteria applied by the audited entity to the non-consolidated entities, if any, and whether those criteria applied are in accordance with the financial reporting framework;
(n)
where applicable, identify any audit work performed by third-country auditor(s), statutory auditor(s), third-country audit entity(ies) or audit firm(s) in relation to a statutory audit of consolidated financial statements other than by members of the same network as to which the auditor of the consolidated financial statements belongs;
(o)
indicate whether all requested explanations and documents were provided by the audited entity;
(p)
report:
(i)
any significant difficulties encountered in the course of the statutory audit;
(ii)
any significant matters arising from the statutory audit that were discussed or were the subject of correspondence with management; and
(iii)
any other matters arising from the statutory audit that in the auditor's professional judgement, are significant to the oversight of the financial reporting process.
Member States may lay down additional requirements in relation to the content of the additional report to the audit committee.
Upon request by a statutory auditor, an audit firm or the audit committee, the statutory auditor(s) or the audit firm(s) shall discuss key matters arising from the statutory audit, referred to in the additional report to the audit committee, and in particular in point (j) of the first subparagraph, with the audit committee, administrative body or, where applicable, supervisory body of the audited entity.
3. Where more than one statutory auditor or audit firm have been engaged simultaneously, and any disagreement has arisen between them on auditing procedures, accounting rules or any other issue regarding the conduct of the statutory audit, the reasons for such disagreement shall be explained in the additional report to the audit committee.
4. The additional report to the audit committee shall be signed and dated. Where an audit firm carries out the statutory audit, the additional report to the audit committee shall be signed by the statutory auditors carrying out the statutory audit on behalf of the audit firm.
5. Upon request, and in accordance with national law, the statutory auditors or the audit firms shall make available without delay the additional report to the competent authorities within the meaning of Article 20(1).
Report to supervisors of public-interest entities
1. Without prejudice to Article 55 of Directive 2004/39/EC, Article 63 of Directive 2013/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 23 ) , Article 15(4) of Directive 2007/64/EC, Article 106 of Directive 2009/65/EC, Article 3(1) of Directive 2009/110/EC and Article 72 of Directive 2009/138/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 24 ) , the statutory auditor or the audit firm carrying out the statutory audit of a public-interest entity shall have a duty to report promptly to the competent authorities supervising that public-interest entity or, where so determined by the Member State concerned, to the competent authority responsible for the oversight of the statutory auditor or audit firm, any information concerning that public-interest entity of which he, she or it has become aware while carrying out that statutory audit and which may bring about any of the following:
(a)
a material breach of the laws, regulations or administrative provisions which lay down, where appropriate, the conditions governing authorisation or which specifically govern pursuit of the activities of such public-interest entity;
(b)
a material threat or doubt concerning the continuous functioning of the public-interest entity;
(c)
a refusal to issue an audit opinion on the financial statements or the issuing of an adverse or qualified opinion.
Statutory auditors or audit firms shall also have a duty to report any information referred to in points (a) (b) or (c) of the first subparagraph of which they become aware in the course of carrying out the statutory audit of an undertaking having close links with the public-interest entity for which they are also carrying out the statutory audit. For the purposes of this Article, ‘close links’ shall have the meaning assigned to that term in point (38) of Article 4(1) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 25 ) .
Member States may require additional information from the statutory auditor or the audit firm provided it is necessary for effective financial market supervision as provided for in national law.
2. An effective dialogue shall be established between the competent authorities supervising credit institutions and insurance undertakings, on the one hand, and the statutory auditor(s) and the audit firm(s) carrying out the statutory audit of those institutions and undertakings, on the other hand. The responsibility for compliance with this requirement shall rest with both parties to the dialogue.
At least once a year, the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) and the CEAOB shall organise a meeting with the statutory auditors and the audit firms or networks carrying out statutory audits of all global systemically important financial institutions authorised within the Union, as identified internationally, in order to inform the ESRB of sectoral or any significant developments in those systemically important financial institutions.
In order to facilitate the exercise of the tasks referred to in the first subparagraph, the European Supervisory Authority (European Banking Authority — EBA) and the European Supervisory Authority (European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority — EIOPA) shall, taking current supervisory practices into account, issue guidelines addressed to the competent authorities supervising credit institutions and insurance undertakings, in accordance with Article 16 of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 26 ) and Article 16 of Regulation (EU) No 1094/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 27 ) , respectively.
3. The disclosure in good faith to the competent authorities or to ESRB and the CEAOB, by the statutory auditor or the audit firm or network, where applicable, of any information referred to in paragraph 1 or of any information emerging during the dialogue provided for in paragraph 2 shall not constitute a breach of any contractual or legal restriction on disclosure of information.
Transparency report
1. A statutory auditor or an audit firm that carries out statutory audits of public-interest entities shall make public an annual transparency report at the latest four months after the end of each financial year. That transparency report shall be published on the website of the statutory auditor or the audit firm and shall remain available on that website for at least five years from the day of its publication on the website. If the statutory auditor is employed by an audit firm, the obligations under this Article shall be incumbent on the audit firm.
A statutory auditor or an audit firm shall be allowed to update its published annual transparency report. In such a case, the statutory auditor or the audit firm shall indicate that it is an updated version of the report and the original version of the report shall continue to remain available on the website.
Statutory auditors and audit firms shall communicate to the competent authorities that the transparency report has been published on the website of the statutory auditor or the audit firm or, as appropriate, that it has been updated.
2. The annual transparency report shall include at least the following:
(a)
a description of the legal structure and ownership of the audit firm;
(b)
where the statutory auditor or the audit firm is a member of a network:
(i)
a description of the network and the legal and structural arrangements in the network;
(ii)
the name of each statutory auditor operating as a sole practitioner or audit firm that is a member of the network;
(iii)
the countries in which each statutory auditor operating as a sole practitioner or audit firm that is a member of the network is qualified as a statutory auditor or has his, her or its registered office, central administration or principal place of business;
(iv)
the total turnover achieved by the statutory auditors operating as sole practitioners and audit firms that are members of the network, resulting from the statutory audit of annual and consolidated financial statements;
(c)
a description of the governance structure of the audit firm;
(d)
a description of the internal quality control system of the statutory auditor or 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 26 was carried out;
(f)
a list of public-interest entities for which the statutory auditor or the audit firm carried out statutory audits during the preceding financial year;
(g)
a statement concerning the statutory auditor's or 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 statutory auditor or the audit firm concerning the continuing education of statutory auditors referred to in Article 13 of Directive 2006/43/EC;
(i)
information concerning the basis for the partners' remuneration in audit firms;
(j)
a description of the statutory auditor's or the audit firm's policy concerning the rotation of key audit partners and staff in accordance with Article 17(7);
(k)
where not disclosed in its financial statements within the meaning of Article 4(2) of Directive 2013/34/EU, information about the total turnover of the statutory auditor or the audit firm, divided into the following categories:
(i)
revenues from the statutory audit of annual and consolidated financial statements of public-interest entities and entities belonging to a group of undertakings whose parent undertaking is a public-interest entity;
(ii)
revenues from the statutory audit of annual and consolidated financial statements of other entities;
(iii)
revenues from permitted non-audit services to entities that are audited by the statutory auditor or the audit firm; and
(iv)
revenues from non-audit services to other entities.
The statutory auditor or the audit firm may, in exceptional circumstances, decide not to disclose the information required in point (f) of the first subparagraph to the extent necessary to mitigate an imminent and significant threat to the personal security of any person. The statutory auditor or the audit firm shall be able to demonstrate to the competent authority the existence of such threat.
3. The transparency report shall be signed by the statutory auditor or the audit firm.
Information for competent authorities
Statutory auditors and audit firms shall provide annually to his, her or its competent authority a list of the audited public-interest entities by revenue generated from them, dividing those revenues into:
(a)
revenues from statutory audit;
(b)
revenues from non-audit services other than those referred to in Article 5(1) which are required by Union or national legislation; and,
(c)
revenues from non-audit services other than those referred to in Article 5(1) which are not required by Union or national legislation.
Record keeping
Statutory auditors and audit firms shall keep the documents and information referred to in Article 4(3), Article 6, Article 7, Article 8(4) to (7), Articles 10 and 11 Article 12(1) and (2), Article 14, Article 16(2), (3) and(5) of this Regulation, and in Articles 22b, 24a, 24b, 27 and 28 of Directive 2006/43/EC, for a period of at least five years following the creation of such documents or information.
Member States may require statutory auditors and audit firms to keep the documents and information referred to in the first subparagraph for a longer period in accordance with their rules on personal data protection and administrative and judicial proceedings.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
