On 25 November 2011, The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a statement regarding accounting for sovereign debt in IFRS financial statements of issuers listed on a regulated market within the EEA area.
The statement contains two sections. Section 1 discusses accounting issues related to sovereign debt in IFRS annual financial statements ending 31 of December 2011. The section highlights elements that should be considered by issuers and their auditors. Section 2 is an ESMA Opinion based on the half-year financial statements as of 30 June 2011 published by European financial institutions with exposure to Greek sovereign debt. The Opinion provides a summary of the outcome of the fact-finding exercise together with elements that should have been considered as part of the half yearly financial statements.
ESMA publishes this statement to promote consistent application of European securities and markets legislation, and notably of IFRS.