Jeremy Woolfe

2010 is shaping up to be a year where the European Union will implement previously planned measures to tighten the screws of financial regulation. The question is whether those efforts will line up with reform plans hatched by the G-20 or be diluted under pressure from lobbyists—and so far, the answer is “who knows?” McCreevy […]

When U.S. government officials met their European counterparts in London last week for the G-20 summit meeting, they were no doubt shaken by some of the more radical sentiments expressed by protesters in the streets outside. They should prepare to be shaken by some of the more radical sentiments expressed by European regulators, too. Since […]

In the shadow of the global financial crisis, the European Parliament has plunged into a wholesale overhaul of Europe’s legislation to supervise its financial markets. From banks to insurance companies to credit-rating agencies, all are in the crosshairs of a nearly unanimous call for reform. In early October, a preliminary vote for the overhaul sailed […]

American bankers are not the only ones crying for help under controversial new fair-value accounting requirements; European financial institutions, fearful of downward valuations of securities, have some grievances of their own. One factor has been the European Union’s reluctance to accept the mark-to-market principle, the fundamental pillar of fair-value accounting. In Europe, that concept is […]

The European Union is considering whether stronger capital-reserves regulations should apply to corporate pension plans—an idea that could force companies to put more cash into their plans. The proposal is to apply provisions from the EU’s Solvency II directive to pensions, possibly sooner than later. That directive, itself unlikely to appear in national legislations before […]

The European Union is struggling toward a new Transparency Directive intended to pressure companies to be more forthcoming with the news—good and bad—they must report to investors. Gone is the rule that the EU’s 8,000 listed companies must report financial information on a quarterly basis. Instead, the “TD,” as it is known, requires semi-annual reports […]

Your accounting rulebook might say “IFRS” on the label, but lots of people still wonder exactly what they might find inside once they open it up. That question is being asked more often these days, as American and European accounting rulemakers press forward with plans to converge International Financial Reporting Standards with U.S. Generally Accepted […]

To cap auditor liability or not? That is the question gripping the European Union. The Big 4 in Europe say, yes, liability must be limited. So agrees the rest of the profession, favoring some sort of proportionality cap, based on audit fees. But a large number of other stakeholders has different ideas. That tension emerged […]