Convening virtually over two days, IFAC’s Professional Accountants in Business (PAIB) Advisory Group, a dynamic global group of business and finance leaders, shared their insights on key global trends impacting the future readiness of the accountancy profession.
Together with Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada), today the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) released The Professional Accountant’s Role in Data.
As economies digitize, the accountancy profession must adapt to contribute strategically. The Professional Accountant’s Role in Data outlines a new model, the data management value chain, in which accountants can, by building upon key competencies, reimagine their roles to meaningfully contribute to the digital economy.
Stathis Gould, director of advocacy at IFAC says: "This is an urgent and opportune moment for the accountancy profession to leverage the disruption of the expanding digital economy, embrace enhanced roles in the data management value chain, and guide businesses and organizations of all kinds into a sustainable and prosperous future."
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, the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) published a revised building blocks approach to reporting sustainability information—enhancing its previously issued roadmap, The Way Forward. IFAC hopes to foster discussion on how this approach can deliver a global system for consistent, comparable, and assurable sustainability-related information that best meets the needs of investors and other stakeholders.
IFAC CEO Kevin Dancey said, “As the IFRS Foundation continues to consider establishing a new International Sustainability Standards Board and as jurisdiction-specific initiatives progress, IFAC is lending its voice to clarify how components can best fit together to meet the needs of all stakeholders. The IFRS initiative—as well as jurisdiction-specific initiatives—should build on what already exists, help create or contribute to a global system, and accommodate different views of what information stakeholders require. The building blocks approach makes this possible.”
IFAC supports a new standard-setting board under the IFRS Foundation that can lead to the coordination and harmonization of reporting and provide a baseline of requirements addressing sustainability information that is material to enterprise value. The IFRS Foundation has proposed amendments to the Constitution of the Foundation as it continues to consider establishing a new board. IFAC encourages its member organizations to submit comments to this IFRS Foundation consultation.
IFAC welcomes feedback on the building blocks approach and plans to engage with stakeholders at future IFAC events addressing the broader journey to an enhanced corporate reporting world.
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.
How Global and Jurisdiction-Level Initiatives Can Work Together
IFAC's new building blocks approach to reporting sustainability information enhances the previously issued roadmap, The Way Forward. With this new step, IFAC hopes to foster discussion on how this approach can deliver a global system for consistent, comparable, and assurable sustainability-related information that best meets the needs of investors and other stakeholders.
Amid a rapidly changing world, the first digital native generation is entering the workforce. This joint report from ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and IFAC (the International Federation of Accountants) draws upon the responses of 9,000+ 18-25 year olds to gain insights into how Generation Z’s top concerns may influence what they want from their careers, what attracts them to organizations, and their views on accountancy, business, and the impact of COVID-19.
IFAC supports steps announced today by the IFRS Foundation in its ongoing consideration of whether to establish a new Sustainability Standards Board (SSB) alongside the IASB and under the existing governance structure of the IFRS Foundation. IFAC welcomes the engagement of IOSCO in this important initiative, as outlined in the IFRS Trustee statement as well as in IOSCO’s February 24 media release.
We agree with the Trustees’ strategic views that the new SSB should focus on information material to decisions of investors and other providers of capital and that the new board would initially focus its efforts on climate-related reporting, while also working toward meeting the information needs of investors on other ESG (environmental, social and governance) matters.
Likewise, we agree that a building blocks approach facilitates both the use of existing standards and frameworks (including TCFD) and the flexibility for coordination on reporting requirements that capture wider sustainability impacts, as IFAC articulated in its Way Forward roadmap.
IFAC CEO Kevin Dancey said, “IFAC continues to support the ongoing rationalization of a coherent global system. The IFRS Foundation is uniquely qualified and positioned to lead here, including engagement with existing sustainability-related initiatives and standard setters from key jurisdictions. IFAC looks forward to providing input to the forthcoming IFRS Foundation Constitution consultation and encourages our member bodies and stakeholders to take an active interest in these next steps.”
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.
A global pathway to integrated reporting assurance needs to develop to reinforce both advancements in integrated reporting and in global standard setting for corporate reporting and assurance. The International Integrated Reporting Council and IFAC’s initial thinking, outlined here, is aimed at starting a discussion with the accountancy profession and its key stakeholders on further progressing integrated reporting assurance, with the goal of enhancing confidence in integrated reporting and integrated thinking, and ultimately business resilience and sustainability.
A Project Under the IFAC Accountancy Capacity Building Program
This syllabus and competency matrix for a three-level qualification for professional accountants was developed by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales under the IFAC Professional Accountancy Organization Capacity Building Program funded by the UK Aid from the UK Government. The original Russian version is also available.
The syllabus helps prepare well-rounded advisors who:
