After long negotiations with the European Council and the European Commission, for amongst others the introduction of XBRL, the European Parliament has voted for the new Accountancy Directive – 2011/0308(COD) – in its plenary session of the 12th of June 2013.

This directive is mostly dedicated to the Small and Medium Entreprises filing and reporting of accounts.

You can find the text from the European Parliament in following the link.

The text is less ambitious than the first versions and the reference to XBRL in the introductory text has been replaced by a more generic one as follows:

(39)  The Member States are strongly encouraged to develop electronic publication systems that allow undertakings to file accounting data, including statutory financial statements, only once and in a form that allows multiple users to access and use the data easily. With regard to the reporting of financial statements, the Commission is encouraged to explore means for a harmonised electronic format . Such systems should, however, not be burdensome to small and medium-sized undertakings.