Finance News by Mazars Romania December 2022

Wed | 28.12.2022

Accounting/audit/tax

Finance News by Mazars Romania December 2022

The EU VAT Gap has decreased: in 2020, Member States recovered €31bn

0n 8 December, the European Commission published the VAT Gap report for 2020. The good news is that, at European Union (EU) level, the VAT collection has increased again (by around 2%), with Member States recovering around €31bn, compared to the previous year.

Mazars’ specialists have outlined the main conclusions of the report:

In 2020, Romania registered again the highest VAT gap at the EU level, with a loss of 35.7% of VAT revenue.
EU Member States lost €93bn in VAT revenue.
The roll out of SAF-T and e-Invoicing is expected to increase the VAT collection.

„Romania's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) includes a package of measures through which the Ministry of Finance has undertaken the most comprehensive reform of the tax administration based on digitalisation, aiming to reduce the VAT collection deficit by 5 percentage points by 2026 (compared to 2019). Some of the measures have already been initiated - SAF-T (Standard Audit File for Taxes) reporting, connecting electronic cash registers to ANAF servers, electronic invoicing or the RO e-Transport system for monitoring high-tax-risk goods shipments.”, mentioned Bianca Vlad, Tax Partner, Mazars Romania.

Read more info HERE.

Mazars releases 2022 ‘Financial Reporting of European Banks’

Mazars has released the fifth edition of its Financial Reporting of European Banks report, which focuses on European banks’ expected credit loss (ECL) levels in H1 2022. The report is based on an analysis of information published in the 2022 interim reports of 26 banks across 11 European countries including the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.

Main conclusions:

The report is based on Mazars’ analysis of information published in the 2022 interim reports of 26 banks across 11 European countries.
The main findings reveal a decrease in the number of defaults, thanks to the support offered by different governments through the pandemic.
War in Ukraine raises concerns over geopolitical instability and subsequent energy crisis that are creating an increasingly challenging economic environment.
According to the publicly available data in Romania, the ECL allowance balance increased in H1 2022 compared with the prior year.
Whereas data for H1 2022 is rather limited, evidence shows that the Romanian banks continued to steadily increase the ECL loans coverage ratio up to a median of 5.5%.

„The global report sheds light on the impact of persistent macroeconomic uncertainties on banks' performance. Based on a sample comprising the largest 10 Romanian banks (as per their consolidated total assets amount at Dec-2021), we have analysed the evolution of the ECL allowance (expected credit loss provisions balance), ECL coverage ratio (expected credit loss coverage ratio) and its allocation between stages for loans and advances granted to customers, in the YE 2019 – H1 2022 period. Our conclusions should be seen as indicating to some specific trends, we hope this will help banks navigate the current economic and regulatory challenges.”, mentioned Răzvan Butucaru, Partner, Financial Services & Advisory Leader, Mazars Romania.

Read more info HERE.

New Mazars report explores how businesses can move sustainability from words to actions

Mazars has released its new report - ESG: where are you on the journey - that takes a closer look at the rise of environmental, social and governance (ESG) topics on business agendas. It sets out pathways for companies of all sizes, in different sectors and geographies, as they prepare to set off or speed up the pace of their sustainability journey.

Providing business leaders with information and critical thinking points needed to broaden their understanding of ESG issues and the business opportunities likely to emerge, the report presents:

An overview of the regulations for corporate ESG reporting: why change is happening and the impact it will have.
Challenges the C-suite face in turning sustainability words into actions and the commitments they are making.
Guiding principles on how senior leadership can strengthen their resolve and view ESG as a business opportunity.
Geographical insights that provide valuable lessons on how others are addressing global and local ESG challenges.
Views from Mazars global experts on three sectors ahead of the curve on ESG issues.
Guidance on how to make a business case for ESG compliance and where to start.
Top tips for moving ESG journeys forward.

Read more info HERE.

Mazars and the Observatory for Gender Balance publish report debunking eight myths that hold back women's careers

Mazars and the Observatory for Gender Balance have partnered to address the stereotypes and biases that persist as obstacles to increasing gender diversity in organisations – and suggest proposals on how to solve them. This report features a series of eight myths debunked by gender experts and leaders, as well as a new self-help tool designed to help CEOs quickly assess the diversity programmes in their organisation and understand whether they have implemented the ‘six measures that work’ to accelerate gender equality.

„Despite the notable increase in female enrollment in higher education over the last years, women still continue to disproportionately be underrepresented in leadership and high-paying positions. Furthermore, one of the reasons why women do not have access to leadership positions is that they are still the the main persons responsible when it comes to raising and educating children. By skipping time (months or even years) of their careers, most women are significantly less likely to be promoted and they experience a large divergence in their career paths following the decision to start a family. And even if we are talking about pursuing higher levels of education, like an EMBA for example, women still need to work harder than men to be able to graduate from this kind of program, as the age when such higher education is possible coincides with the age where women are prepared to become mothers and when traveling is not really possible for most.”, mentioned Ella Chilea, Audit Partner and Diversity & Inclusion Leader, Mazars România.

Read more info HERE.