Member States may exempt micro‑undertakings from specified accounting and disclosure obligations, including the presentation of ‘Prepayments and accrued income’ and ‘Accruals and deferred income’, the preparation of notes where specified information is disclosed at the foot of the balance sheet, the preparation of a management report where certain information is disclosed, and the publication of annual financial statements provided the balance sheet is filed with a designated competent authority. Member States may permit abridged balance sheets (excluding specified items where prepayment exemptions apply) and abridged profit and loss accounts showing prescribed line items (net turnover, other income, cost of raw materials and consumables, staff costs, value adjustments, other charges, tax, profit or loss). Article 8 may not be applied or required for micro‑undertakings using these exemptions; such annual financial statements shall be regarded as giving a true and fair view and Article 4(4) shall not apply. The balance sheet total, where the prepayment exemption applies, comprises assets A–D, and micro‑undertakings are otherwise regarded as small; the derogations do not apply to investment undertakings or financial holding undertakings.

Where a Member State uses the prepayment exemption it may permit departures from recognition rules in Article 6(1)(d) for specified charges provided this is disclosed in the notes or at the foot of the balance sheet. If publication is disapplied the competent authority receiving the filed balance sheet must pass the information to the central, commercial or companies register if it is not itself that register. Member States with implementing laws in force on 19 July 2013 may be exempt from the Article 3(9) currency conversion requirement when applying Article 53(1). The Commission was to report by 20 July 2018 on the situation of micro‑undertakings, including national coverage by size criteria and administrative burden reductions from the publication exemption.