On 5 May, the CGPA held a webinar entitled ‘Draft Law No. 15001 and SME Transformation: What Supervisory Boards Need to Know About the New Business Classification Criteria’.

The speaker at the event was Anna Levandovska — owner of Audit-Consulting, an expert in strategic consulting and corporate governance, and a member of the CGPA.

During the webinar, participants discussed the practical implications of upcoming changes in approaches to the classification of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, the harmonisation of Ukrainian legislation with EU standards, and the impact of these changes on corporate governance.

Particular attention was paid to:
▪️ new business classification criteria and the shift towards assessment based on assets, revenue and FTEs
▪️ risks for companies associated with the aggregation of group indicators (‘the holding company trap’)
▪️ the impact of XBRL digital reporting on the transparency of business structure
▪️ the role of supervisory boards in risk management, compliance and strategic planning
▪️ the need to prepare businesses for ESG requirements and non-financial reporting

Anna Lewandowska emphasised that the changes concern not only accounting or statistical classification, but in fact signify a shift towards a new philosophy of business conduct and corporate governance.

“Although this is still a draft bill, the direction of the changes is already clear: the rules of the game are becoming stricter and more transparent. Assets are becoming decisive; the principle of the group’s economic substance makes it impossible to ‘fragment’ the business on paper; and the linking of criteria to the euro makes currency monitoring critically important for companies. For supervisory boards, this is not a matter of accounting, but of strategic planning, risk management and compliance,” the speaker noted.

Participants also discussed:
▪️ the impact of the new criteria on access to finance and government support programmes for SMEs
▪️ the risks of losing small business status
▪️ preparing companies for the new regulatory requiremen

▪️ changes in approaches to group management and internal control

CGPA Board Chairman Oleksandr Okuniev emphasized the importance of such practical discussions for the development of the professional community and strengthening the role of corporate governance in Ukrainian business.
CGPA thanks all webinar participants for their active participation and interest in the topic.