The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board is hosting a three-part global webinar series designed to assist sustainability assurance practitioners, firms, jurisdictional standard setters, and professional organizations as they adopt, implement, or apply International Standard on Sustainability Assurance (ISSA) 5000, General Requirements for Sustainability Assurance Engagements (ISSA 5000) Regulators, oversight bodies, and other stakeholders (e.g., preparers, those charged with governance or users of sustainability reporting) may also find these webinars helpful.
This series, ISSA 5000 in Focus, will take participants through ISSA 5000 from engagement acceptance, assessing risks and designing and performing procedures, and finally to concluding and reporting. Each webinar includes an explanation of ISSA 5000 requirements with practical implementation insights, real-world examples, and solutions to common challenges.
Across the three sessions, participants will:
- Gain an understanding of ISSA 5000 concepts, scope, and application.
- Enhance their understanding of the requirements of ISSA 5000, including addressing assurance issues that may be particularly challenging, such as materiality and value chain considerations.
- Explore common pitfalls and how to overcome them.
- Engage directly with IAASB experts during Q&A segments.
Each webinar will take place twice to accommodate different time zones and a global audience. The webinars will air via Zoom with livestreaming on YouTube.
Webinar #1: Foundational Principles and Concepts
Webinar #2: Engagement Planning, Risk Assessment & Response
Webinar #3: Concluding and Reporting on Sustainability Assurance Engagements
Additional details on each webinar are available below.
Webinar #1: Foundational Principles and Concepts
Dates: October 1 (11:00 UTC) or October 2 (18:00 UTC)
Being well prepared sets the tone for a successful sustainability assurance engagement. In this session, IAASB experts will walk participants through the fundamental concepts and underlying premises for applying ISSA 5000—explaining its scope, authority, and why it was developed—and addressing overarching matters in preparing to perform a high-quality sustainability assurance engagement, including making sound engagement acceptance decisions.
Webinar #2: Engagement Planning, Risk Assessment & Response
Dates: October 7 (11:00 UTC) or October 8 (18:00 UTC)
Planning, risk assessment and response are at the heart of delivering a robust sustainability assurance engagement. Together they enable the practitioner to obtain sufficient appropriate evidence as a basis for their sustainability assurance conclusion. This session explores what is key to an effective strategy and engagement plan under ISSA 5000, and the essential aspects of identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement of the sustainability information and designing and performing procedures to respond to those risks.
Webinar #3: Concluding and Reporting on Sustainability Assurance Engagements
Dates: October 14 (11:00 UTC) or October 15 (18:00 UTC)
The assurance engagement culminates in the practitioner’s conclusion about whether the sustainability information is free from material misstatement. The practitioner’s conclusion and assurance report are the ultimate deliverables of the sustainability assurance engagement and are designed to enhance the degree of confidence of intended users about the entity’s sustainability information. In this session, IAASB experts will guide participants through the final stages of the engagement process under ISSA 5000—the evaluation of evidence, forming a conclusion, and preparation of an assurance report.