2025 Report Shows How Stakeholder Dialogue and Collaboration Are Shaping the Boards’ Work
The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) and the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) today released their 2025 Joint Annual Report, Building Trust Through Dialogue, Leadership, and Standards, highlighting a year of global engagement, strengthened collaboration, and continued commitment to advancing high-quality international standards in the public interest.
2025 Highlights
- 246 strategic meetings and other stakeholder engagements worldwide
- 47 publications, including standards, consultations, handbooks, and implementation resources
- 105 Board members, technical advisors, and volunteers from 27 jurisdictions
- 83 translations of 40 publications into 35 languages
Throughout 2025, both Boards focused on listening to stakeholders and responding to an evolving reporting environment. This included advancing work on technology and quality management, fraud and going concern, private equity investment in accounting firms, and firm culture and governance, alongside supporting implementation of recently issued standards, including those addressing sustainability assurance and ethics and independence for sustainability reporting and assurance. The Boards also expanded opportunities for global dialogue with stakeholders, including through the inaugural IESBA global conference, Ethics and Audit Independence, bringing together stakeholders to exchange perspectives on the issues shaping the future of the profession and international standard setting.
"For the IAASB, 2025 was a year of listening, learning, and preparing for the future," said Tom Seidenstein, IAASB Chair. "The perspectives we gained through our engagement with stakeholders around the world are helping ensure our standards remain practical, globally relevant, and responsive to an evolving reporting environment."
"2025 demonstrated that leadership is not measured only by issuing new standards, but also by supporting their implementation, anticipating emerging challenges, and engaging openly with stakeholders," said Gabriela Figueiredo Dias, IESBA Chair. "Those efforts continue to strengthen ethics, independence, and confidence in the global reporting ecosystem."
The report also highlights the continued evolution of collaboration between the IAASB and IESBA, including coordinated strategic planning, joint stakeholder engagement, coordinated implementation support, and technical collaboration. Together, these efforts help strengthen trust in financial and sustainability reporting and support high-quality global standards that serve the public interest.
"Building and maintaining trust requires more than high-quality standards—it requires collaboration and a shared commitment to serving the public interest," the Chairs said in a joint statement. "We greatly benefit from the insights offered by stakeholders as we shape our work priorities to ensure that our standards remain critical pillars of market trust and integrity."
The 2025 IAASB–IESBA Joint Annual Report is available on the IESBA website here.
About the IAASB and IESBA
The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board develops auditing, assurance, related services, and quality management standards and guidance in the public interest that support consistent performance of quality engagements.
The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants serves the public interest by setting high-quality ethics and independence standards that strengthen trust in the reporting and assurance of financial and sustainability information, organizations, and capital markets.
The IAASB and IESBA are part of the International Foundation for Ethics and Audit. The Public Interest Oversight Board (PIOB) oversees IAASB and IESBA activities and the public interest responsiveness of their standards. For copyright, trademark, and permissions information, please visit Permissions.