The importance of internal and external accounting as a source of information for owners and managers of small enterprises and their stakeholders is steadily growing. It is of crucial importance that the accounting systems applied by small enterprises meet their needs, providing necessary information while avoiding unjustified administrative burden. The Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs carries out studies on accounting legislation applicable to SMEs to find ways to improve the legislative environment.
Studies and projects
Study: Accounting guide for SMEs - SME Accounting in Europe: insights provided by a desk research and a survey (2015)
Because of the importance of small and medium-sized enterprises to the European economy and the non-harmonised accounting legislation adopted for the SMEs which are not regulated at EU-level, a study was commissioned to help SMEs to develop accounting practices that reduce the administrative burden, while maintaining the information value for users and preparers of financial statements.
Study: Accounting requirements for SMEs (2011)
The objective of the study is to provide an overview of the accounting requirements in force
and the good accounting practices adopted in 20 selected European Countries, and to identify users’ perceived needs for accounting information from SMEs in Europe, as well as SMEs’ own needs for accounting information in the non-financial business economy.
Accounting requirements for SMEs
Project: Accounting for small enterprises - Recommendations and good practices (2008)
Because of the importance of appropriate accounting information for owners and managers of small enterprises and their different stakeholders, a project to analyse the various accounting systems applied in Member States in the case of non-regulation at EU level was commissioned. The objective of the project was to come up with views on how to improve the accounting systems of small enterprises so that they can provide the owners, managers and other stakeholders with appropriate financial information
Report: Accounting for small enterprises – Recommendations and good practices
Contact for more information
European Commission
Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs
Unit C1 SME Access to Finance
B - 1049 Brussels
E-mail: GROW-C1
ec [dot] europa [dot] eu (GROW-C1[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)
Other Commission services working in this field
The Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union