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.

Today, IFAC released a publication, “Sustainability Information for Small Businesses: The Opportunity for Practitioners,” exploring the diverse benefits of embracing sustainability information. 

The report examines the importance of readily available, relevant, and reliable sustainability information for achieving better-informed decisions, enhanced strategic and risk management, and more thorough and valuable reporting to external stakeholders. It also highlights a range of emerging services that practitioners can provide to their clients, including advisory services, reporting, agreed-upon procedures (AUP) engagements, and assurance services.

Small businesses make up more than 90 percent of businesses worldwide; they are critical to achieving sustainable outcomes for economies, the environment and society. They can find significant advantages from establishing (or enhancing) processes, systems and controls for identifying, measuring, and analyzing sustainability information. This can include improved efficiencies and performance, as well as differentiation from competitors. Small businesses are also likely to be subject to sustainability-related reporting information requests from a diverse range of stakeholders, including large companies, banks, and suppliers—if they are not already. 

This publication was developed with advice and guidance from the IFAC Small and Medium Practices (SMP) Advisory Group and builds on the Advisory Group’s work on practice transformation. 

Although focusing on sustainability information and related services may seem premature for some small businesses and practitioners, the field is growing quickly. To speak to different practitioners’ unique circumstances, the publication includes suggestions on building knowledge and competencies and taking initial steps. 

IFAC will explore these issues further in a webinar on December 15 titled “Sustainability Offers New Opportunities for SMPs” (with simultaneous translation into Spanish and French). The webinar will feature a panel discussion with practitioners who are providing services in this space.

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.

This report examines the importance of readily available, relevant, and reliable sustainability information for achieving better-informed decisions, enhanced strategic and risk management, and more thorough and valuable reporting to external stakeholders. It also highlights a range of emerging services that practitioners can provide to their clients, including advisory services, reporting, agreed-upon procedures (AUP) engagements, and assurance services.

The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has selected Mr. Paul Druckman of the United Kingdom as the 2021 recipient of the IFAC Global Leadership Award, recognizing his contributions to the advancement of the global accountancy profession and capital markets.

Mr. Druckman is a passionate global leader in capital market reform, bringing about significant advancements in corporate governance and corporate reporting to enhance accountability for responsible business and sustainability. He currently serves as the Chairman of both Clear Insurance and the World Benchmarking Alliance, which is developing transformative benchmarks to enable companies to accelerate their contribution to sustainable development goals.

After qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1979, and becoming a mathematics teacher and then IT entrepreneur, Mr. Druckman served as president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW) in 2004/5. Mr. Druckman subsequently acted as executive chair of the Prince of Wales’s Accounting for Sustainability Project, and in this role he was central to the formation of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) to bring about an enhanced corporate reporting system relevant to the digital, knowledge-driven, and resource-constrained world of the 21st century. He led the IIRC as founding CEO achieving the development of the International Integrated Reporting Framework in 2013.

Mr. Druckman has also been a board member of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) over two separate terms, including the post Enron era and then again until 2019. He also chaired the FRC’s Corporate Reporting Council, which sets UK accounting standards.

“I am delighted that Paul has received the IFAC Global Leadership Award this year,” said President of IFAC Alan Johnson. “While his roots are as a Chartered Accountant, his entrepreneurial spirit and drive have led him to a very successful career within the profession, one which we all benefit from through his insights into important emerging fields, such as technology and sustainability. Given the commitments by world leaders at COP26 that ends this week, Paul’s vision for a sustainable world on which he has been campaigning for many years is hopefully now in sight”.

Established in 2017 by the IFAC Board, the IFAC Global Leadership Award in Honor of Robert Sempier recognizes individuals who make outstanding contributions to the global accountancy profession. The award honors the contributions of Robert Sempier, IFAC’s first executive director who greatly contributed to the development of the profession worldwide.

The Global Leadership Award was presented during IFAC’s Council meeting, held virtually on November 10-11, 2021.

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.