With the establishment of the International Sustainability Standards Board, the way forward is clear: The accountancy profession must lead on climate reporting and other material environmental, social and governance disclosures and their assurance—contributing to strong and sustainable financial markets and economies and enabling the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Digitization has created enormous amounts of data. With the influx of information, how can accountants help harness the value of non-financial data? Find out in this joint webinar by CPA Canada and IFAC, which dives deeper into the new data-related challenges and opportunities for accountants presented in the “The professional accountant’s role in data” discussion paper.

The SMPAG strongly supports the IAASB Exposure Draft to create a separate, standalone standard for audits of LCEs.

The IFAC-IAASB less complex entities survey—part of the IAASB’s consultation on audits of financial statements of less complex entities—is open until January 14. While the IAASB encourages all interested stakeholders to respond to the consultation in writing, the survey provides a way to participate and provide feedback that is less time and resource intensive. The survey is available in English, French and Spanish by clicking the language selector in the survey’s top right corner. Survey responses will be analyzed by the IAASB alongside all other feedback and help shape the final standard; individual survey responses are confidential.

For additional information on the IAASB’s proposed new standard for audits of less complex entities, which was issued in July for a six-month consultation, visit iaasb.org/less-complex-entities.

As technology advances and the world becomes more complex, the professional accountant’s skills and competencies, underpinned by ethics and recognizing their public interest responsibility, are critical in navigating new challenges and opportunities and ensuring trust in the profession. To help professional accountants and stakeholders better understand these topics, the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada), the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS), the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA), and the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) have released Technology is a double-edged sword with both opportunities and challenges for the accountancy profession, the second in a four-part thought leadership series examining the professional accountant’s role in a new technological era.

The publication examines the impact of rapid technological change and the importance of ethical leadership from the lens of the professional accountant. It also provides practical guidance to both professional accountants and professional accountancy organizations.

Technology is a double-edged sword with both opportunities and challenges for the accountancy profession follows Complexity and the professional accountant: Practical guidance for ethical decision-making, the first publication in the series, and builds off a collaborative exploratory paper and global roundtable event called Ethical Leadership in an Era of Complexity and Digital Change, which CPA Canada, ICAS and IFAC jointly hosted earlier in 2021. The third and fourth publications in the series will focus on identifying and mitigating bias and mis-/disinformation, and mindset and enabling skills.

The publication is available on the IFAC Knowledge Gateway and the IESBA’s webpage Technology: Ethics & Independence Considerations.

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About CPA Canada
Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada) works collaboratively with the provincial, territorial and Bermudian CPA bodies, as it represents the Canadian accounting profession, both nationally and internationally. This collaboration allows the Canadian profession to champion best practices that benefit business and society, as well as prepare its members for an ever-evolving operating environment featuring unprecedented change. Representing more than 220,000 members, CPA Canada is one of the largest national accounting bodies worldwide. cpacanada.ca

About ICAS
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) is the global professional body for Chartered Accountants. We educate, examine and lead, enabling excellence whilst always working for the wider public good. All 23,000 ICAS members have earned our world-class CA designation of Chartered Accountant, the qualification that’s shaped an international business community spanning industries and continents, full of local heroes and corporate leaders. And we continually foster the bonds between our members, so CAs at all stages of their careers can learn from shared experience and connect their ambitions to success. For further information please visit – icas.com.

About IESBA

The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) is an independent global standard-setting board. The IESBA’s mission is to serve the public interest by setting ethics standards, including auditor independence requirements, which seek to raise the bar for ethical conduct and practice for all professional accountants through a robust, globally operable International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including International Independence Standards) (the Code).

About IFAC

The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) is the global organization for the accountancy profession dedicated to serving the public interest by strengthening the profession and contributing to the development of strong international economies. Comprised of 180 members and associates in more than 130 countries and jurisdictions, IFAC represents more than 3 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry and commerce.

Over four decades, IFAC has represented the global profession and supported the development, adoption, and implementation of international standards that underpin the contributions of today’s global accountancy profession. IFAC has maintained a long-term approach to building and strengthening a global accountancy profession that supports transparent, accountable, and sustainable organizations, financial markets, and economies.

This paper is the second of four thought leadership pieces that build on a collaborative exploratory paper and global roundtable event held jointly with Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS), entitled Ethical Leadership in an Era of Complexity and Digital Change. The exploratory paper, a summary of the event, and an on-demand recording are available here.

A fundamental tenant of IFAC’s vision about the information companies provide to investors and stakeholders is that reporting and disclosure should capture all relevant information about organizations. To be accountable, companies need to provide a clear and comprehensive picture of their organization’s ability to create sustainable value over time.

This vision addresses the importance of global standards, regulation that supports decision-useful disclosure, and the value of an interconnected approach to sustainability and financial information reporting and assurance.

Today, the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) published its vision for high-quality assurance of sustainability information—calling out best practices identified during its year-long, global engagement campaign related to the State of Play in Sustainability Assurance. This vision addresses the importance of global standards, regulation that supports decision-useful disclosure, and the value of an interconnected approach to sustainability and financial information reporting and assurance.

“In order to be trusted, sustainability disclosure must be subject to high-quality, independent, external assurance,” said IFAC CEO Kevin Dancey. “Sustainability information must take its rightful place in the corporate reporting ecosystem and stakeholder confidence must be on par with financial reporting. Given the announcement of the International Sustainability Standards Board, the publication of a Climate Prototype, and IOSCO’s continued support for the initiative, it’s an appropriate time for regulators and authorities to put sustainability assurance on the agenda, as already proposed in the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. We urge IFAC member organizations to promote high-quality reporting and assurance through discussions with policymakers, regulators, investors, and other stakeholders.”

As a harmonized, global reporting system for reporting sustainability information takes shape, based on the Building Blocks Approach, emerging regulatory frameworks should be designed to promote robust, decision-useful disclosure and disincentivize a compliance-based approach to both reporting and assurance. Aligning sustainability disclosure with financial reporting and connecting sustainability assurance engagements with financial statement audits will maximize value to reporting entities and their stakeholders. High-quality, global standards—for reporting, assurance, and ethical professional conduct—play a key role in meeting this objective and in avoiding unnecessary costs and reduced comparability and consistency that result from regulatory fragmentation.

Read more about IFAC’s support for global sustainability-related standard on the IFAC website.

About IFAC
IFAC is the global organization for the accountancy profession dedicated to serving the public interest by strengthening the profession and contributing to the development of strong international economies. IFAC is comprised of 180 members and associates in 135 countries and jurisdictions, representing more than 3 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.