The financial reporting enforcement panel set up in accordance with paragraph 342b of the Commercial Code examines whether the most recently adopted annual financial statements and the associated management report, or the most recently approved consolidated financial statements and the associated group management report of listed enterprises comply with the legal requirements. The German Financial Reporting Enforcement Act (BilKoG) established a two tier system of enforcement in Germany. It combines elements of private and public law.
The first body is the privately organised Financial Reporting Enforcement Panel (FREP). The Financial Reporting Enforcement Panel (FREP) acts if there are concrete indications of an infringement of financial reporting requirements or on a sampling basis. This body depends on the willingness of the listed enterprises to cooperate.
The second body is the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). It can impose sanctions if the entities do not cooperate with the Financial Reporting Enforcement Panel (FREP).
More details under: http://www.bafin.de/cgi-bin/bafin.pl and http://www.frep.info.
