The main innovation of the draft law from the Ministry of Finance "On Amending the Federal Law "On Auditing Activities" and Article 18 of the Federal Law "On Accounting" is that auditors are obliged to provide the tax authorities with an auditor's report including consolidated financial statements as an annex to it, confirming the results of the audit of annual or interim statements. The purpose of the draft law is to provide all interested parties with free access to the consolidated financial statements of organisations confirmed by an independent auditor. An exception is made for information constituting a State secret.
The relevant documents will be placed in a single State centralised resource. The procedure for access to the documents will be established by the Government.
According to the amendments, auditors must provide information to the tax authority within 10 working days. Prior consent from the audited organisation is not required. However, the auditor must notify the client of the transfer of the said documents to the tax authorities. The client is also expected to inform the auditors if the consolidated financial statements are not required to be disclosed or contain information that is not required to be disclosed.
The new requirements are expected to come into effect from 1 March 2024. It is planned that the new rules will apply to consolidated statements for 2024 and interim statements for periods in 2024. The draft law is under public consultation until 8 November 2023.