These codes and standards have evolved over the years influenced, to no small degree, by crises that affect the profession from time to time. The latest round of the crisis of confidence in the corporate sphere has been catalysed by the unexpected corporate failures of the 1980s, the 1990s and indeed the high profile collapses of new millennium.
One basic principle that I would like to draw your attention to is that there is no single trajectory towards the euro that can be identified and recommended to all EU Member States at all times. This principle reflects the fact that most Member States are far from being a homogeneous group of countries.