We show that an electric field standing wave effect is responsible for the oscillations and the non-linear dependence of the absorbance on the layer thickness in thin layers on a reflective surface. This effect is connected to the occurrence of interference inside these layers. Consequently, the absorptance undergoes a maximum electric field intensity enhancement at spectral positions close to those where corresponding non-absorbing layers on a metal show minima in the reflectance. The effect leads to changes of peak maxima ratios with layer thickness and shows the same periodicity as oscillations in the peak positions. These peculiarities are fully based on and described by Maxwell's equations but cannot be understood and described if the strongly simplifying model centered on reflectance absorbance is employed.