Rechnungslegung, Publizität und Wettbewerb

Financial accounting and financial disclosure play an increasingly important role for companies, especially in view of the present crisis of the global financial markets. Today, financial statements are disclosed electronically and, consequently, open to the public, both domestically and internationally. Investors, creditors, competitors and employees as well as other socalled stakeholders now have access to the financial information of a company, both in quantitative and qualitative terms. What impact do financial accounting and disclosure have on markets and competitors? How much financial disclosure is really needed? Are the present European rules on financial accounting and disclosure still sound if compared to the rules of other global players (e.g., the USA, Japan, China and India)? What changes are required to ensure both the necessary transparency and the protection of legitimate individual interests. These and other questions are the focus of the contributions to the present book. The authors address the relevant issues from a German, European, U.S. American and comparative perspective. Recent decisions of the European Court of Justice and the European Court of First Instance as well as a seminal decision of the District Court of Osnabrück, Germany, gave rise to the present debate. The authors contribute to this debate with a particular emphasis on non-listed small and medium-sized companies whose special interests and particular needs are all too often overlooked in the present debate.