The Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic has a global impact and significantly affects entities and their auditors. Whilst auditors have to comply fully with required standards, the Committee of European Audit Oversight Bodies (CEAOB) wishes to emphasise certain challenges that auditors are facing due to the unprecedented scale of the outbreak, which could have an adverse effect on audit quality. CEAOB acknowledges the ESMA statement on the accounting implications of the current situation on the calculation of expected credit losses under IFRS9 as well as the statement by ESMA on the recommended actions by financial market participants, in particular those about disclosure and financial reporting.

This paper summarizes the analysis of the differences in views expressed between CEAOB Guidelines on ESEF (issued on 28 November 2019) and Accountancy Europe Briefing Paper on ESEF (issued on 19 December 2019 “independent assurance on ESEF”).

The 6th meeting of the Inspections Sub-Group (ISG) of the CEAOB was hosted by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) of Luxembourg in Luxembourg on 19 and 20 June 2019. The meeting was chaired by the Cyprus Public Audit Oversight Board (CyPAOB) and was attended by 28 countries.

The 5thmeeting of the Inspections Sub-Group (ISG) of the CEAOB was hosted by the Abschlussprüferaufsichtsbehörde (APAB) of Austria in Vienna on 28 and 29 November 2018. The meeting was chaired by the Dutch Authority of the Financial Markets (AFM) and was attended by 28 countries.

On 24 October 2018 the Committee of European Auditing Oversight Bodies (CEAOB) held its 8th plenary meeting in Brussels.