Maltese Authorities To Reduce Reporting Burden On SMEs

by Robert Lee, Tax-News.com, London

17 June 2008

The Maltese Government announced on Tuesday that it will be launching General Accounting Principles for Smaller Entities (GAPSE) during the coming weeks, in what will constitute a reduction of the audit and financial statement reporting requirements for SMEs, in an effort to make the service more affordable, whilst maintaining the standards required to support the users of the audited financial statements.

For small businesses, this means less bureaucracy, fewer costs, and therefore further opportunities to grow and generate employment. This was announced by Minister of Finance, the Economy and Investment, Tonio Fenech during the inauguration speech of Ecovis Malta, an international financial services company that has recently launched an operation in Malta.

Fenech explained that adequate financial statements are required by creditors, providers of finance, fiscal revenue authorities and many others.

However for small companies, the obligations imposed by the current International Financial Reporting Standards go beyond these needs, and impose compliance costs which in today’s realities outweigh the benefits or disclosure needs of the financial statement users.

In addressing these burdens, the Maltese government is implementing the advice of smaller businesses that have been stressing the need of better regulation during regular consultation meetings, Fenech explained.

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