An open invitation to a public meeting

EU companies cannot return money to their shareholders unless they comply with the requirements for maintenance of legal capital set out in the 2nd Company Law Directive, and, in particular, must show that a dividend is paid out of realised profits. Whilst safeguards are necessary to protect the interests of creditors the current requirements have been much criticised. It has been argued that they do not achieve their purpose; that they are unnecessarily rigid; and that they place excessive burdens on companies.

The Commission of the European Communities has noted that further consideration should be given to more flexible requirements as regards distributions. FEE (Fédération des Experts Comptables Européens) has proposed an alternative system in the form of a solvency based regime. The FEE Discussion Paper may be downloaded here.

The ASB is hosting this public meeting to provide an opportunity to learn of progress and to express views which may influence future developments. The meeting will receive presentations from:

• Paolo Santella, a National Expert at the European Commission, DG Internal Market, who is currently working on the Commission evaluation of the feasibility of an alternative to the legal capital as established by the 2nd Company Law Directive.
• Erich Kandler, Chairman of the FEE Company Law and Corporate Governance Working Party, and Partner, Deloitte Austria.
• Ken Lever, Chairman of the Financial Reporting Committee of The Hundred Group of Finance Directors.
• Andrew Lennard, Director of Research, Accounting Standards Board.

The meeting will be chaired by Ian Mackintosh, Chairman of the Accounting Standards Board.

There will be ample opportunity for participants to share their experiences and comments and to ask questions of the speakers.

The meeting will be held on 26 February 2008 and will start at 9:30 am (coffee from 8:45) and conclude at 1:00pm, following which participants are invited to a buffet lunch. Due to a longer response than expected the meeting will now take place at Stationers' Hall

All places have now been reserved.  For enquiries, please contact Mary Evans (m.evans@frc-asb.org.uk or 020 7492 2434).

A summary and presentations of the meeting can be downloaded below:

• Summary of the meeting
• Presentation by Paolo Santella
• Presentation by Erich Kandler
• Presentation by Ken Lever
• Presentation by Andrew Lennard