With effect for fiscal years starting from 1 January 2015, Law 4308/2014, published in November 2014, introduced new accounting rules and principles as well as new regulations for the maintenance of fiscal records and documents. As we are already in the period of finalisation of the financial statements of Greek undertakings, those FYs that have ended on 31 December 2015 are the first to be impacted by the obligation to “transpose” their financial statements into the new system of either full International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) or the new Greek Accounting Standards. Taxand Greece provides an overview.
This law incorporated in Greek legislation regulations of Directive 34/2013/EU with a view to simplify Greek accounting rules as well as enhance the transparency, reliability and comparability of financial information of Greek undertakings. In doing so, it introduced principles inspired by the IFRS while it also repealed a number of accounting and tax provisions fragmented in various legislative acts which created legal uncertainty to Greek undertakings.
Shortly after publication of this law, the first Interpretative Circular was issued clarifying various vague points thereof, while in October 2015 a more extensive set of guidelines was published dealing with the new accounting principles interpretation.
Discover more: New Greek Accounting Standards – A first step towards IFRS
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The challenge that Greek undertakings have to face is the transition to the new accounting standards and preparation of their financial statements from now on in alignment with the new framework.
