1. The coordination measures prescribed in this Directive shall apply to the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning persons responsible for:
(a) carrying out statutory audits of the annual accounts of companies and firms and verifying that the annual reports are consistent with those annual accounts in so far as such audits and such verification are required by Community law;
(b) carrying out statutory audits of the consolidated accounts of bodies of undertakings and verifying that the consolidated annual reports are consistent with those consolidated accounts in so far as such audits and such verification are required by Community law.
2. The persons referred to in paragraph 1 may, depending on the legislation of each Member State, be natural or legal persons or other types of company, firm or partnership (firms of auditors as defined in this Directive).