The Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic is preparing amendments to the Accounting Act and the Statutory Audit Act in response to the supplementary transposition of an EU Directive, which reduces the requirements for corporate sustainability reporting and certain corporate sustainability due diligence requirements.
Following an assessment of the significant administrative burden associated with corporate sustainability reporting, the scope of information to be reported and the extent of the reporting requirements applicable to the affected undertakings have been revised.
▢ What changes does the amendment introduce?
The EU Directive, which also amends the Accounting Act, changes the scope of undertakings subject to the obligation to include sustainability information in their annual report. In addition to the National Bank of Slovakia and health insurance companies, the obligation will apply to every undertaking that meets the following criteria:
|
Definitoin criteria |
Current criteria | Proposed criteria |
|
Total assets |
EUR 25 million |
Removed |
|
Net turnover |
EUR 50 million |
EUR 450 million |
| Average number of employees during the accounting period | 250 |
1 000 |
These conditions will also apply to an undertaking that meets these thresholds as at the balance sheet date. At the same time, undertakings issuing securities admitted to trading on a regulated market will no longer be subject to a separate assessment.
As another measure aimed at reducing the number of undertakings required to report consolidated sustainability information, the concept of a “financial holding accounting entity” is being introduced. This refers to an undertaking that is a business company whose sole activity is the acquisition of interests in other undertakings and their management and appreciation, without directly managing those undertakings.
An undertaking falling within this definition will not be entitled to report sustainability information under the procedure applicable to micro accounting entities.
▢ Impact on the statutory audit of annual reports containing sustainability information
The amendment to the Accounting Act will also affect the statutory audit of annual reports containing corporate sustainability information. Following the amendment to the Statutory Audit Act, such an audit may only be performed by a so-called key audit partner, who is a statutory auditor registered in the register of statutory auditors.
Also, requirements will be introduced for the registration of third-country auditors and third-country audit firms for the purpose of providing assurance services in the area of sustainability reporting.
Such third-country persons will be registered by the Office for the purposes of providing assurance on sustainability reporting where they have issued an assurance report relating to the sustainability reporting of a third-country company for an accounting period beginning between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2030.
Registration will only be carried out upon payment of the registration fee.
The proposed effective date of the amendments to the Accounting Act and the Statutory Audit Act is 1 January 2027.
