​Parliament’s Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in a Digital Age (AIDA) adopted its final recommendations on Tuesday 23 march concluding 18 months of inquiries.​Special committee on artificial intelligence proposes EU Roadmap up to 2030Imbalance in favour of dominant tech platforms poses systemic risks to democracyHuge benefits of using AI against climate change, pandemics and in the labour marketAI can also pose threats to fundamental...

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll among elderly people although retirees have seen their pension payments well protected across OECD countries. Future pension entitlements have also been well protected thanks to the exceptional policy response to the crisis, according to a new OECD report.Painful policy decisions Pensions at a Glance 2021 says however that the long-term financial pressure from ageing persists. Pension finances...

On 18 November IFAC released on line this publication on opportunities of sustainability Information fin SME's for small accountancy Practices. This report examines the importance of readily available, relevant, and reliable sustainability information for achieving better-informed decisions, enhanced strategic and risk management, and more thorough and valuable reporting to external stakeholders. It also highlights a range of emerging services that practitioners can provide to their...

EFAA believes that sustainability presents an opportunity and challenge to SMPs. Accordingly we have issued a Call to Action: SMPs Supporting Creation of the Sustainable Economy in which we stress the opportunities – to prepare sustainability reports, to provide assurance on such reports and to advise SMEs on their transition to a sustainable business model – as well as the challenges of building the capacity...

The FATF recently revised its Standards (R.1 and INR.1) to require countries, financial institutions, designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs) and virtual asset service providers (VASPs) to identify, assess, understand and mitigate their proliferation financing risks. The FATF Guidance on Proliferation Financing Risk Assessment and Mitigation will help countries, financial institutions, DNFBPs and VASPs effectively implement these new FATF requirements, introduced in October 2020. The...

The need for SMEs to digitalise is more pressing than ever. The COVID pandemic has reinforced the case for SME digitalisation by showing how digitalised business models can foster SMEs’ resilience. Digitalisation helps to diversify the business model, improve efficiency and foster competition with SME peers and larger companies. Digitalisation also enables innovation, and new and unique services design that allow companies to grow and...