Freeing small firms from EU accounting rules - Catherine Bearder, MEP for SE England (Canterbury & Whitstable Liberal Democrats)

Canterbury & Whitstable Liberal Democrats <info@cantlibdem.org.uk>

Freeing small firms from EU accounting rules - Catherine Bearder, MEP for SE England

January 4, 2012 10:00 AM
By Catherine Bearder MEP

This month I joined my colleague in the South East Sharon Bowles in voting to exempt so called 'micro-entity' businesses from complex EU accounting rules. Millions of small businesses must now only comply with national reporting rules which usually demand very basic information.

Sharon said: "It is pure common sense to exempt small businesses that rarely operate across borders from complicated accounting rules. Of course it is important for small businesses to provide basic information to comply with national laws on transparency and tax regulation. But we must not make this process more complicated than necessary."

The vote comes after a two year struggle between the European Parliament and EU Member States in the Council over the definition of 'micro entity'. Euro MPs wanted to include as many small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) as possible under the relaxed accounting rules whereas Member States pushed for a tighter definition.

This has taken a very long time to come to fruition, I know Sharon has been working on it for four years! It is now up to the Coalition Government to implement this exemption. We will be pushing our ministers to introduce the new rules as quickly as possible.