Artificial intelligence (AI) and intelligent automation (IA) are creating significant opportunities for organizations and individuals and are shaping the future of professional accountants as leaders and business partners.
Digital transformation based on intelligent automation can drive business growth and customer and employee satisfaction.
To provide in-depth insights about AI and IA and consider their impact on the work of accounting and finance professionals, IFAC’s Professional Accountants in Business (PAIB) Advisory Group received a presentation from Pascal Bornet, IA pioneer and CPA, and have shared a recording and takeaways from the discussion.
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 more than 135 jurisdictions, representing millions of professional accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.
Disrupting Business; Elevating the Work of Accounting & Finance Professionals
Across the globe momentum is building for sustainability reporting and assurance in the public sector. The IPSASB decided to move forward with the development of public sector specific sustainability reporting standards beginning with a Climate-Related Disclosures standard. Finance and audit professionals working in government, public sector bodies and supreme audit institutions – Auditors-General’s offices, Courts of Accounts and similar (SAIs) – can demonstrate leadership on this agenda, driving action to progress transparent reporting and assurance of expenditure and actions to address sustainability challenges.
At the World Investment Forum in Abu Dhabi on 16th October three global bodies, ACCA, IFAC and IDI launched a summary of their forthcoming introduction to sustainability and assurance in the public sector.
Based on their ongoing work and recent global roundtables with public sector reporting and auditing experts, the report makes the case for a focus on the principle of sustainable development: "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own need." It outlines what sustainability reporting and assurance mean for the public sector, why they are important, and key principles for governments, SAIs and other public sector bodies to consider in this journey.
Speaking at the ACCA/UN symposium on developing public sector sustainability reporting, Maggie McGhee, Executive director for Strategy and Governance at ACCA said, "A sustainable future for all is a primary concern across government activity. At the same time governments play a critical role in establishing good governance: the institutional, policy and regulatory frameworks in which society operates. So governments and other public sector bodies need to be able to measure and report on how their policies and expenditure are addressing sustainability challenges."
Laura Leka, Principal and public sector lead at IFAC said, "Policymakers and other stakeholders, including the public, need information to understand the sector’s impact on sustainable development. It’s important that sustainability reporting provides disclosures that are high-quality, decision-useful, and prepared in accordance with internationally recognized reporting and disclosure standards."
As sustainability reporting develops, independent external assurance will become increasingly necessary to build trust in the information being disclosed. Roundtable participants saw SAIs taking the lead, building on their experience auditing progress towards sustainable development.
Archana Shirsat, Deputy Director General at IDI, said, "SAIs have a central role to play in providing independent and objective oversight on sustainability information generated by the public sector. Determining appropriate forms of assurance or confidence, engaging with stakeholders and developing auditor competencies to audit sustainability information is important to build public trust."
We are ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), a globally recognised professional accountancy body providing qualifications and advancing standards in accountancy worldwide.
Founded in 1904 to widen access to the accountancy profession, we’ve long championed inclusion and today proudly support a diverse community of over 247,000 members and 526,000 future members in 181 countries.
Our forward-looking qualifications, continuous learning and insights are respected and valued by employers in every sector. They equip individuals with the business and finance expertise and ethical judgment to create, protect, and report the sustainable value delivered by organisations and economies.
Guided by our purpose and values, our vision is to develop the accountancy profession the world needs. Partnering with policymakers, standard setters, the donor community, educators and other accountancy bodies, we’re strengthening and building a profession that drives a sustainable future for all.
The INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) is an autonomous implementing body that is not-for-profit. Its mandate is to provide support to Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) in developing countries to enhance their performance and capacity in a sustainable manner. The work done by IDI is based on the needs and challenges experienced by SAIs. The support provided is focused on a needs-based and sustainable approach. IDI seeks to empower SAIs by promoting gender-responsiveness and peer-to-peer cooperation as essential elements of long-term capacity development.
In each country, there is a Supreme Audit Institution that is tasked with auditing public funds to ensure that it is an effective, accountable, and inclusive institution. IDI is convinced that its contribution to strengthening Supreme Audit Institutions can make a difference in the lives of citizens for several reasons. Firstly, government audits are key components of effective public financial management and good governance. Secondly, SAIs contribute to the quality of government engagement and better state-society relations through their work. Lastly, SAIs are key stakeholders in supporting the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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 more than 135 jurisdictions, representing millions of professional accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.
This executive summary provides an outline of ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), IDI (INTOSAI Development Initiative) and IFAC’s forthcoming introduction to sustainability reporting and assurance, intended for the public sector globally.
The report draws on two global roundtables, held in August and September 2023, with professionals involved in both reporting and audit in the public sector.
The executive summary launched at a session at the UN World Investment Forum 2023 in Abu Dhabi in October 2023.
Sustainability Disclosure and Assurance in 20 More Jurisdictions
The State of Play Beyond the G20 expands IFAC's sustainability disclosure and assurance data to 20 additional jurisdictions beyond the G20 previously reported on. The State of Play Beyond the G20 focuses on the Global South with data from three jurisdictions from Latin America, six in Africa and Middle East, and four in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as six smaller-sized economies within the European Economic Area and Switzerland.
Fresh research from the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) expands its sustainability disclosure and assurance data to 20 additional jurisdictions beyond the G20 previously reported on. The new report, The State of Play: Beyond the G20, focuses on the Global South with data from three jurisdictions from Latin America, six in Africa and Middle East, and four in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as six smaller-sized economies within the European Economic Area and Switzerland.
IFAC CEO Kevin Dancey said, “When viewed in full, the State of Play series of reports now provide data on the current market practices of nearly 2,000 of the largest stock exchange-listed companies across forty-two jurisdictions over the period 2019 through 2021. This broader lens on disclosure and assurance makes it even more clear that we are still in the early stages of the journey to provide investors and other stakeholders with consistent, comparable, decision-useful, and assured sustainability information that is as reliable as financial information.”
While the data shows an upward trend in the incidence of assurance, the scope of assurance being obtained by companies is narrowing. Additionally, fragmentation in terms of which assurance standard is used is evident. The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board’s recently proposed sustainability assurance standard—International Standard on Sustainability Assurance 5000—addresses both of these issues. The International Ethics Board for Accountants is also working to enhance independence and ethics requirements to support high-quality assurance.
As governments, regulators and policy makers around the world are turning their attention to new sustainability requirements, IFAC is conducting this and other research to help raise awareness about the need for high-quality sustainability information and foster evidence-based policy and regulatory decisions, both of which are aligned with its commitment to the adoption of ISSB standards and the ISSB’s Partnership Framework.
Additional Key Findings
89% of companies reviewed reported some ESG information in 2021, with 48% of those companies receiving some level of assurance.
Sustainability disclosure—in the G20 as well as beyond the G20—is still an “alphabet soup” of standards and frameworks. However this study found more connectivity between sustainability and financial information, with only 19% of companies relying on stand-alone sustainability reports, compared to 50% for the G20 (as reported in The State of Play: Sustainability Disclosure & Assurance 2019-2021, published in partnership with AICPA-CIMA).
Assurance rates have risen from 37% to 48%, but engagements cover a narrowing set of topics.. Specifically, broader scope assurance has declined from 74% in 2019 to 64% of engagements in 2021.
Most assurance engagements were conducted by audit firms—62% of assurance engagements in 2021.
81% of these assurance engagements applied the IAASB’s International Standard on Assurance Engagement 3000.
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 more than 135 jurisdictions, representing millions of professional accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.
Data from the Global South Demonstrates Need for ISSB Global Baseline Disclosure Requirements as Well as Broader Scope Assurance
The Public Trust in Tax survey which questioned 7,700 members of the public across the globe shows that accountants have a major role to play in addressing corruption, which negatively impact on attitudes towards tax in economies across the globe.
Results show that 53.8% consider corruption a major factor, however most people believe the role of professional accountants contributes to improving tax systems by making them more efficient (59%), more effective (57%), and fairer (55%).
The findings follow ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), IFAC (the International Federation of Accountants), and CA ANZ (Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand) expanding their biennial G20 Public Trust in Tax survey – which this time omitted Russia and included New Zealand – to address not only corruption but also the issues of sustainable development and corruption, and how these two interconnect with trust in the tax system. The results are clear.
Corruption has a significant impact on attitudes towards tax in economies across the globe, with over half of G20 respondents citing it as a major factor.
At the same time, 68% of respondents in G20 countries see at least some connection between tax and sustainable development, and 57% would be prepared to pay more tax to support it.
In this context, the continued high levels of trust in professional accountants are more important than ever. The results shows that they remain the single most trusted stakeholder in tax in every G20 country, as it has been the case in every biennial G20 Public Trust in Tax survey since the initiative began in 2017.
Kevin Dancey, CEO of IFAC, says: “The impact of corruption on trust in tax has been an emerging theme in our recent surveys, particularly in our 2022 Global Perspectives report, which focuses on jurisdictions outside of the G20. Now, for the first time, we have specific data on that point, and the results are illuminating. Taken together with the continued trust in professional accountants, and additional new data on views about sustainable development, insight into the important interconnections between these issues is starting to come into view.”
Helen Brand, chief executive of ACCA, says: ‘Throughout the course of these surveys, public unease about how tax moneys are spent has been a constant theme in respondents’ comments. Perceptions of corruption are a clear barrier to engagement with the tax system. Accountants have a central role to play in countering corruption, bringing transparency and accountability to the collection and spending of taxes across both public and private sectors.’
Ainslie van Onselen, CEO of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ), says: ‘As leaders in the global accountancy profession, we are proud to see the sustained high levels of trust in professional accountants, which is hard won, but easily lost. It is vital that we constantly work to maintain and earn trust through both our individual and collective actions. Now, more than ever, the relationship between taxpayers, businesses and governments must be strengthened to provide security and certainty for our broader societies and economies and we look forward to continuing to engage with key stakeholders to drive trust in tax and trust in our profession.’
The survey reveals the attitudes and opinions of the general public towards their tax systems, and the actors involved in them. The key findings indicate that:
Trust in key stakeholders has improved in most regions, but there are still significant variations;
People see tax systems as a mechanism for positive change, but are concerned about corruption;
People generally think that levels of taxes paid are reasonable.
This year’s survey is launched on 14 September at an online event hosted by IFAC, ACCA and CA ANZ. Register here.
Editor’s Notes
The study is based on an online survey, conducted in the second quarter of 2023, of more than 7,700 individuals across all the G20 countries apart from Russia, plus New Zealand. The sample in each country is balanced by demographics based on census data, including age (targeting individuals of taxpaying age), education, gender, ethnicity, household income levels, and geographic location within the country.
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 more than 135 jurisdictions, representing millions of professional accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.
About ACCA
We are ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), a globally recognised professional accountancy body providing qualifications and advancing standards in accountancy worldwide.
Founded in 1904 to widen access to the accountancy profession, we’ve long championed inclusion and today proudly support a diverse community of over 247,000 members and 526,000 future members in 181 countries.
Our forward-looking qualifications, continuous learning and insights are respected and valued by employers in every sector. They equip individuals with the business and finance expertise and ethical judgment to create, protect, and report the sustainable value delivered by organisations and economies.
Guided by our purpose and values, our vision is to develop the accountancy profession the world needs. Partnering with policymakers, standard setters, the donor community, educators and other accountancy bodies, we’re strengthening and building a profession that drives a sustainable future for all.
About Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand
Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand represents more than 136,000 financial professionals, supporting them to make a difference to the businesses, organisations and communities in which they work and live. Chartered Accountants are known as Difference Makers. The depth and breadth of their expertise helps them to see the big picture and chart the best course of action. Find out more at www.charteredaccountantsanz.com.
Accountants remain the most trusted players in tax according to the ACCA, IFAC and CA ANZ biennial global survey.
As the global voice of the accountancy profession, IFAC has long supported the establishment of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) to develop a comprehensive global baseline of sustainability disclosures—which are now endorsed by IOSCO and are ready to be adopted and implemented around the world. High-quality implementation of IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 is critical to the ISSB’s mission.
We congratulate the ISSB for addressing “climate first” with IFRS S2 and also delivering IFRS S1 requirements for broader disclosure of investor-focused information about sustainability-related risks and opportunities. Next, companies need a global baseline for a holistic, narrative analysis of how reporting entities create, preserve, or erode value over time, including how sustainability disclosures are connected to financial position and performance.
IFAC CEO Kevin Dancey said, “Our research clearly shows that companies are moving away from stand-alone sustainability reports—at least in terms of timing and same location. Investors need a consistent, comprehensive view, and companies need a timely pragmatic solution to the connected reporting issue. The <IR> Framework that is commonly used to provide up front narrative information coupled with the IASB’s prior work on Management Commentary provide a constructive roadmap for the two boards to move with pace, just like they did with S1 and S2, to develop a new template for explaining how a company creates sustainable value.”
The ambition and momentum demonstrated by the ISSB since it was announced at COP 26 must continue, and we urge the Board to use the results of this agenda consultation to set out a clear timeline for addressing additional sustainability topics including biodiversity and human capital/rights issues.
IFAC continues its call on the global accountancy profession to work with local regulators and stakeholders to support the adoption of ISSB standards, to help build capacity for their implementation alongside any local complementary reporting requirements, and to continue to contribute our expertise and feedback to the ISSB as its important standard setting work continues.
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.
Learn about 8 steps any company can follow to enhance investor-grade GHG reporting from Kevin Dancey, IFAC CEO, and María Mendiluce, We Mean Business Coalition CEO, in the Harvard Business Review.
Mandatory greenhouse gas (GHG) emission disclosures are on the way in various jurisdictions, and fortunately, meeting the evolving GHG reporting standards may not be as expensive or difficult as some companies fear. When it comes to GHG emissions accounting especially, sustainability reporting can function as an extension of existing financial reporting, and companies of any size can take immediate steps to ensure their data is in order and that they’re reporting robust information when the new standards and rules go into effect.
To explore aligning GHG emissions accounting with financial reporting systems and processes to deliver decision-useful GHG reporting, the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and the We Mean Business Coalition (WMBC) present a Climate Week NYC event, Achieving Investor-Grade GHG Reporting: The Role of Accounting and Finance Professionals. The event will be held virtually September 19 at 9:00am ET and feature experts discussing their experiences, challenges, and best practices in collaborating with sustainability professionals and others to improve GHG reporting that satisfies both organizational and investor needs.
The panel discussion will be moderated by Stathis Gould, Director, IFAC and feature:
Eugene Brink, Vice President, Finance Transformation, GE Vernova
Jimmy Greer, ESG Specialist, Datamaran
Mike Harris, ESG Services Leader at PwC Canada; Chair, Sustainability Assurance Committee, Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (AASB)
Jane Thostrup Jagd, Director, Net Zero Finance, We Mean Business Coalition; Former Lead Compliance Officer at Maersk and Ørsted
Elizabeth Seeger, Board Member, International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB)
“Professional accountants and finance professionals play a crucial role in providing decision-useful and trusted GHG reporting to management and capital markets,” said Kevin Dancey, IFAC CEO. “With an integrated mindset that connects financial and emissions data, accountants advance progress towards our most urgent shared goal: achieving climate commitments.”
Register for the online event September 19 at 9:00am ET.
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 more than 135 jurisdictions, representing millions of professional accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.
About WMBC We Mean Business Coalition (WMBC) is a global nonprofit coalition working with the world’s most influential businesses to take action on climate change. Together we catalyze business leadership to drive policy ambition and accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy. Our mission is to ensure that the world economy is on track to avoid dangerous climate change by 2020 while delivering sustainable growth and prosperity for all.
The role of accounting and finance professionals in GHG reporting will be explored in virtual event
