Opinion of the European Central Bank of 30 December 2005 at the request of the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic on a draft Ministry of Finance measure stipulating the structure and identification of items in individual financial statements, the content of such items and the extent of financial statements data subject to disclosure by Národná banka Slovenska (CON/2005/61)
Date: 2005-12-30
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Slovakia, central bank, closing of accounts, institutional activity, national law, standardised accounting system

EN 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 30 December 2005  

at the request of the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic on a draft Ministry of Finance 

measure stipulating the structure and identification of items in individual financial statements, the 

content of such items and the extent of financial statements data subject to disclosure  

by Národná banka Slovenska 

(CON/2005/61) 

1.  On  8  December  2005  the  European  Central  Bank  (ECB)  received  a  request  from  the  Ministry  of 

Finance of the Slovak Republic for an opinion on a draft Ministry of Finance measure stipulating 

the structure and identification of items in individual financial statements, the content of such items 

and  the  extent  of  financial  statements  data  subject  to  disclosure  by  Národná  banka  Slovenska 

(hereinafter the ‘draft measure’). 

2. 

The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on the third indent of Article 2(1) of Council 

Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Central Bank by national 
authorities  regarding  draft  legislative  provisions1,  as  the  draft  measure  contains  provisions 

concerning a national central bank (NCB). In accordance with the first sentence of Article 17.5 of 

the  Rules  of  Procedure  of  the  European  Central  Bank,  the  Governing  Council  has  adopted  this 

opinion. 

3. 

The main objective of the draft measure is to provide for the structure and identification of items in 

individual financial statements, the content of such items and the extent of financial statements data 

which are subject to disclosure by Národná banka Slovenska (NBS). The explanatory memorandum 

accompanying  the  draft  measure  states  that  under  the  draft  measure,  NBS  should  prepare  its 

financial statements on the basis of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in order to 
allow monitoring of the performance of tasks and individual objectives under the NBS Act2.  

4. 

The ECB notes that the competence to decide on the accounting and financial reporting standards to 

be used by NBS lies with the national legislator. The ECB however wishes to draw attention to the 

accounting  and  financial  reporting  regime  of  the  European  System  of  Central  Banks  (ESCB)  as 

required under Article 26.4 of the Statute and laid down in Guideline ECB/2002/10 of 5 December 

2002  on  the  legal  framework  for  accounting  and  financial  reporting  in  the  European  System  of 
Central Banks3 (hereinafter the ‘Accounting Guideline’). Although the Accounting Guideline does 

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OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
Act No 566/1992 Coll. on Národná banka Slovenska, as amended. 
OJ L 58, 3.3.2003, p. 1. 

 
 
 
                                                 
not  lay  down  binding  rules  for  the  NCBs’  national  reports  and  financial  accounts,  Article  2(2) 

stipulates that ‘[i]n order to achieve consistency and comparability between the ESCB and national 

regimes’, the ECB recommends that NCBs should, to the extent possible, follow the rules set out in 

this  Guideline  for  their  national  reports  and  financial  accounts.  The  ECB  understands  that  the 

Slovak Ministry of Finance only intends to make NBS subject to IFRS for a temporary period. The 

ECB  notes  that  from  the  introduction  of  the  euro  in  Slovakia,  NBS  will  fall  under  the  scope  of 

application of the Accounting Guideline for ESCB accounting and financial reporting purposes, and 

recommends that from that moment onwards NBS should follow the rules set out in the Accounting 

Guideline  for  its  national  financial  accounts.  The  ECB  also  notes  that  maintaining  two  separate 

accounting regimes (one for ESCB reporting, and one for national financial accounts) may prove to 

be financially and operationally burdensome. 

5. 

This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website. 

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 30 December 2005. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Jean-Claude TRICHET 

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