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Overview

In 2014, the European Parliament and the Council adopted the NFRD, which amended the Accounting Directive (Council Directive 2013/34/EU) and mandates the disclosure of nonfinancial and diversity information.
 

Scope

• Large firms (and groups)

  • which are public interest entities (PIEs)

  • with an average number of more than 500 employees (on a consolidated basis).

• PIEs are defined as:

  • EU companies admitted to trading on an EU regulated market,

  • credit institutions,

  • insurance companies and

  • other companies designated by member states as PIEs
     

• The Accounting Directive determines an undertaking to be large if it exceeds at least two of the following criteria on its balance sheet date:

  • a balance sheet total of EUR 20 million,

  • net turnover of EUR 40 million,

  • an average number of employees during the financial year of 250.

Objective

According to the NFRD, its objective is:

• To improve the relevance, consistency and comparability of sustainability disclosure

• To improve capital market efficiency

• To stimulate change toward a sustainable global economy

Disclosure requirements

The NFRD extends the scope of management reports and requires the inclusion of a nonfinancial statement encompassing the development, performance, position and impact of activities related to at least the following areas:

• the environment,

• social and employee matters,

• respect for human rights, and

• anti-corruption and bribery matters.

The NFRD requires companies (and groups) to report about their

• business models,

• policies relating to these areas and their outcomes

• implemented due diligence processes,

• risks and risk management and key performance indicators (KPIs).

Additionally, an explanation is required in cases where no policy regarding one or more of these areas is pursued (‘comply or explain’).

Moreover, the NFRD extends the scope of the corporate governance statement, as defined in the Accounting Directive (Article 20), to also contain diversity information. In particular, for EU companies admitted to trading on an EU regulated market, the corporate governance statement shall additionally include a description of the applied diversity policy, including the policy’s objectives, implementation and results. According to the NFRD, the policy should address administrative, management and supervisory bodies and cover aspects such as age, gender, and educational and professional backgrounds

Reporting format

The NFRD does not require the use of specific sustainability reporting standards; rather, it refers to various voluntary reporting standards and frameworks.

Moreover, instead of the publication of a nonfinancial statement, member states may also allow firms to issue a separate report.

With regard to assurance, the NFRD requires that a statutory auditor or audit firm checks the presence of the (consolidated) nonfinancial statement but not the content of it. Rather, according to the NFRD, the management and the supervisory board of a firm are responsible for preparing and publishing the nonfinancial statement and for verifying its content.

Guidelines

Nonbinding reporting guidelines were published by the European Commission in 2017 and 2019:

• Commission Guidelines 2017/C 215/01

• Commission Guidelines 2019/C 209/01

Updates

Updates to this page:

Links and Sources

• EUR-Lex, NFRD

• Hummel, K., Jobst, D., 2022. The Current State and Future of Corporate Sustainability Reporting Regulations in the European Union. (SSRN)

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