RSPP asked to allow businesses not to disclose financial statements until July 2024

The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) has asked the government to allow companies not to disclose financial statements until July 2024. In early July, the RSPP sent a corresponding letter to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Alexander Varvarin, Vice President for Legal Regulation and Law Enforcement of the RSPP, told Interfax.

The appeal is due to the fact that from July 1, companies, in accordance with government decree No. 1102, are again required to disclose information about their activities after a break introduced by the authorities in the spring of 2022 due to the risk of expanding sanctions. The RSPP, however, believes that sanctions risks remain for the largest Russian companies, and there are also unjustified risks for the entire Russian economy.

“The publicly available reporting will make it easier to collect information about the current financial condition of companies and their contribution to the Russian economy to justify the introduction of such restrictions. As part of the analysis of company reporting… it will be possible to identify economic relationships that indicate non-implementation of sanctions, for example, which groups of goods are exported in a larger volume than expected, and which critical processes are provided by parallel imports,” Mr. Varvarin explained.

RSPP asks the government to amend Decree No. 1102 “as soon as possible” to allow companies not to publish financial statements in whole or in part until July 1, 2024. As an alternative, the RSPP proposes to define a list of companies that will be allowed to rip off the mentioned information.

In addition, the RSPP asks to establish new rules for including bonds in the quotation lists of the Moscow Exchange. In the usual manner, this happens, including on the terms of information disclosure, but the union proposes to establish that the conditions for quotation are met if there is information about its availability from the Central Bank or if the issuer sent it to the Moscow Exchange under the obligation not to disclose this information.

In 2022, businesses gained the right not to make public or disclose sensitive corporate information in a limited way. This rule was valid until July 1, 2023. In February 2023, the Ministry of Finance called for the resumption of the publication of previously unpublished reports. In June RSPP saidwhich will ask the government to extend permission not to publish financial statements.

Laura Keffer