IESBA’s snapshots provide short, non-technical overviews of IESBA projects. They explain the purpose, direction, and current focus in clear and accessible terms, alongside more detailed technical materials.
This Snapshot focuses on IESBA’s Firm Culture and Governance Project.
Q1. Why is the IESBA working on firm culture and governance?
Accounting firms and professional accountants play a critical public interest role in the global economy by fostering public trust in the financial and non-financial reporting ecosystem.
To meet these expectations, firms are increasingly addressing the need to build and sustain firm-wide ethical culture that supports a consistent, high level of ethical behavior across all service lines.
These efforts underscore an important observation that ethical failures within firms are rarely due to a lack of rules or standards alone. Often, they reflect deeper issues relating to the firm’s ethical culture.
In fact, extensive research demonstrates that ethical behavior in organizations is strongly influenced by firm culture, including elements such as leadership, governance, incentives, or accountability.
At present, there is no comprehensive global ethics baseline against which firms of different sizes and operating in different contexts can assess their ethical culture and governance practices across all activities.
Stakeholders have therefore expressed clear support for the IESBA to explore the development of a global, firm-level framework that complements the existing requirements in the IESBA Code - which focus primarily on individual professional conduct and independence requirements at individual and firm levels, rather than cultural or governance factors.
The Firm Culture and Governance (FCG) project responds to this public interest matter by examining how a global framework could support firms in strengthening the key elements that underpin a strong ethical culture.
Q2. What is the objective of the Firm Culture and Governance project?
The objective of the project is to develop a global culture and governance framework that can help firms build and sustain a strong ethical culture across the whole firm.
In the framework, the IESBA aims:
- To establish a global and consistent point of reference for firms to assess their practices on their ethical culture and governance practices
- For the framework to be principles-based, rather than prescriptive
- For it to be applicable to firms of different sizes and structures
- To promote long-term trust, ethical conduct, and the public interest, by complementing existing requirements
Q3. What has the IESBA done so far?
In 2024, a dedicated Working Group carried out research and outreach on accounting firm culture and governance and published a report identifying eight key interconnected elements that drive ethical culture in firms.
Based on this work, IESBA agreed to pursue a standard-setting project to develop a Firm Culture and Governance Framework comprising the eight elements (FCG Framework). The project also includes the development of non-authoritative guidance and other supporting materials or initiatives.
In June 2025, informed by stakeholder engagement that followed the publication of the report, including six global roundtables, IESBA agreed to develop:
- Guidance materials and other initiatives during 2025 and 2026; and
- A set of IESBA Viewpoints on each of the eight elements that drive ethical culture in firms to be used for further discussion with stakeholders in 2026.
This engagement will inform IESBA’s consideration, by June 2026, of how best to approach the development of the FCG Framework.
Q4. What are the IESBA Viewpoints?
IESBA concluded in December 2025 a set of Viewpoints that describe key characteristics of each of the eight elements of a FCG Framework. The Viewpoints:
- Summarize insights from research and stakeholder feedback
- Describe what ethical culture, principles, or other considerations could look like in practice
- Support dialogue and testing of the thinking going forward
The IESBA Viewpoints shared for engagement with stakeholders in 2026 are not the framework itself, but rather a tool to test, refine, and build consensus around what we expect, once completed, to be a powerful framework to underpin the overall resilience and success of the accounting sector and ultimately protect the public interest.
Q5. What are the eight elements of a Firm Culture and Governance Framework?
The eight elements that form the structure of an FCG Framework and that are covered by the IESBA Viewpoints are:
- Ethical leadership
- Oversight and governance
- Independent input
- Accountability across the firm
- Incentives and disincentives
- Open discussion and challenge
- Education and training
- Transparency
Together, these elements influence how ethical values are embedded into everyday decisions and behaviors within firms, helping to shape an organizational culture that prioritizes ethical values in decision-making at all levels and across all service lines of a firm.
Q6. What is the IESBA focused on in the first half of 2026?
The IESBA is taking a dialogue-driven, evidence-based approach to shaping its Firm Culture and Governance Framework and will be focused on in-depth, meaningful discussions on what an effective FCG Framework should entail.
The discussions will address issues such as:
- How a global and consistent baseline would help firms strengthen culture and governance across all service lines
- Whether a future framework should be part of the IESBA Code or available for voluntary adoption - and why
- Whether the IESBA Viewpoints are clear, workable, and proportionate, and which of them should become enduring principles (or what may be missing)
Q7. How can stakeholders engage and contribute to this work?
The engagement with stakeholders will be structured through the Firm Culture and Governance Dialogues initiative that will include:
- Targeted discussions and meetings at technical and strategic levels with firms, regulators, professional bodies, and other stakeholders
- Testing and refinement of the Viewpoints against real scenarios and experiences
- Broader engagement through conferences, seminars, interviews, and ongoing communication
This engagement will inform the Board’s consideration of next steps.
Q8. What decisions will the IESBA consider in 2026?
By mid-2026, the IESBA expects to consider how best to take this work forward on the development of the FCG Framework, including:
- How the eight FCG elements should best be structured within a framework
- Which of the IESBA Viewpoints should evolve into principles integrated within the framework
- Whether such a framework should be positioned within the IESBA Code, or outside the Code and available for voluntary adoption
No decisions on how to approach the FCG Framework have been taken at this stage.
Annex: Further information and resources
Those interested in additional context, background, and technical details about the project may wish to refer to:
The booklet presents the Viewpoints on the eight elements of the Firm Culture and Governance Framework and sets out the objectives of the project and the dialogues planned for the first half of 2026.
Detailed background on the project, its objectives, the context, nature, and purpose of the IESBA Viewpoints and stakeholder engagement questions.
A paper explaining at a high-level how the IESBA Viewpoints relate to the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board’s (IAASB) International Standard on Quality Management 1 (ISQM 1), highlighting the linkages between the two as well as their differences such as their differing scopes and objectives.
A summary of insights from six global roundtables held in New York, Melbourne, Brussels, Kuala Lumpur, and virtually for Africa and Latin America, involving more than 150 stakeholders from the regulatory, investor, standard-setting, firm, academic, and professional communities.
Research, fact-finding, outreach, and early insights that informed the development of the FCG project, including the identification of the 8 fundamental elements of firm culture and governance.
A synthesis of academic research examining how organizational culture shape ethical behavior within organizations.
Regular updates on the Firm Culture and Governance project and the ongoing engagement with stakeholders. IESBA launches Firm Culture and Governance Viewpoints as it begins Asia outreach
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 high-quality, international ethics (including independence) standards as a cornerstone to ethical behavior in business and organizations, and to public trust in financial and non-financial information that is fundamental to the proper functioning and sustainability of organizations, financial markets and economies worldwide.
Along with the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB), the IESBA is part of the International Foundation for Ethics and Audit (IFEA). The Public Interest Oversight Board (PIOB) oversees IESBA and IAASB activities and the public interest responsiveness of the standards.