At the initiative of SMART kolektiv, which was supported by the Koalicija za dobročinstvo (Coalition for benevolence) (LPF) whose members are the representatives of the Živković Samardžić Law Office, Kruna Savović and Nataša Sarić, a public discussion was implemented regarding the Draft of the Law on Accounting, in the period from August to September 2019. In the last year and a half, intensive work was carried out to prepare the draft of the law and the deficiencies shown by the practice of implementing the existing laws during six years were identified through many meetings.
Participants in this public discussion were the representatives of state authorities and institutions, representatives of business associations, such as the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, Foreign Investors Council, American Chamber of Commerce and others, as well as the representatives of auditing and accounting associations and representatives of the academic and civil sector. All participants in the public discussion participated actively and stated their comments regarding the text of the Draft of the Law on Accounting, where during a single public discussion more than 80 different participants submitted their comments regarding the text of the Draft of the Law on Accounting.
The reasons for objections to the Draft of the Law on Accounting submitted by the participants mostly referred to improving the quality of corporate financial reporting and strengthening the trust in financial and audit reports, as well as compliance with the requirements of the new EU regulations and meeting one of the measures for closing chapter six, as well as eliminating the detected deficiencies in existing decisions.
The team consisting of SMART kolektiv and attorneys from the Živković Samardžić Law Office proposed a change to the draft of the law which was adopted in the part referring to non-financial reporting by additional detailing of the obligations of compiling and the manner of compiling these reports. Additionally, the proposal of the team consisting of Smart Kolektiv and Živković Samardžić attorneys stating that other legal entities referred to in Article 2 of the Draft of the Law on Accounting (associations, foundations, endowments, etc.) should still implement special bylaws regulating the Chart of Accounts and the contents and form of financial statements forms, just like in the previous Law on Accounting, was accepted as well.
All mentioned proposals to amend the draft of the Law on Accounting have the purpose to improve the transparency of operation of civil organizations (associations, foundations, endowments) and prevent potential violation of the legal norm.
The law has been in the assembly procedure since 16 September 2019.