Together with ICAEW, The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) today released the fifth installment in its Anti-Money Laundering: The Basics educational series: Installment 5: Tax Advice.  

The publication is part of a 6-month short series helping accountants enhance their understanding of how money laundering works, the risks they face, and what they can do to mitigate these risks and make a positive contribution to the public interest. Installment five examines tax advice and the multiple ways in which tax services may be vulnerable to money laundering.

The installment series, with its focus on accessibility and ease of use, will be a resource for Small and Medium Practices (SMPs,) and accountants less familiar with AML, while also providing guidance for those looking for a quick refresher or reference.

Anti-Money Laundering: The Basics is featured on both the IFAC (landing page) and ICAEW websites and available for download for free. To be globally relevant, the series uses the risk-based approach of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) -- the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog -- as a starting point. 

For more information about IFAC, visit www.ifac.org.

For more information about ICAEW, visit https://www.icaew.com/.

This is the fifth installment of a 6-month publication series titled Anti-Money Laundering, The Basics.

The series provides professional accountants with a better understanding of how money laundering works, the risks they face, and what they can do to mitigate these risks and make a positive contribution to the public interest. 

The Monitoring Group (MG), the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), and the Public Interest Oversight Board (PIOB) are pleased to announce the establishment of an Interim Nominating Committee to select the Chair of the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) for the 2022-2024 term. This appointee will succeed Dr. Stavros B. Thomadakis, who has been the IESBA Chair since 2015.

The Interim Nominating Committee will be chaired by Mr. Makoto Sonoda, chair of IOSCO’s Committee on Issuer Accounting, Auditing and Disclosure, and will include Ms. Kathryn Byrne, Dr. Simon Longstaff, Sir David Tweedie, and Mr. Eddy Wymeersch. The Interim Nominating Committee meetings will be observed by MG representative, Jonathan Bravo of the IOSCO general secretariat, IFAC President, Alan Johnson and Chair of the PIOB, Linda de Beer.

By establishing an Interim[1] Nominating Committee for the selection of the next IESBA Chair, the MG has designed a nominating process based on the principles of the MG Recommendations published in July 2020.[2]  The next IESBA Chair will be nominated through an open call, appointed using a skills matrix that prioritizes the public interest and fosters a strategic mindset, and selected by a majority vote of the Interim Nominating Committee.

Sagar Teotia and Jean-Paul Servais, Co-Chairs of the MG stated: “The Chair of the IESBA plays a crucial role in ensuring that high quality ethics and independence standards and other pronouncements for professional accountants worldwide are developed in the public interest.  The new Chair will, amongst other key tasks, lead the strategic priorities of IESBA and its standard-setting agenda.  With the Interim Nominating Committee’s multi-stakeholder composition described above, we are confident this will contribute to a selection of the next IESBA Chair that is in the public interest.”

Alan Johnson, IFAC President stated: “Ethics and the public interest are the foundations on which the accountancy profession is built.  IFAC continues to support robust processes and strong governance in the selection of the standard setting board members and chairs. As such, we also strongly support the establishment of the Interim Nominating Committee, which further advances this important objective.”

Linda de Beer, PIOB Chair stated: “The PIOB very much welcomes the MG initiative to set up an independent nominating committee to select the next IESBA Chair. The prioritization of the public interest in the selection of this important role cannot be overstated, as the PIOB collaborates with stakeholders to strengthen public interest in international audit and ethics standard-setting.”

MEDIA ENQUIRIES

Mr. Jonathan Bravo
Email: j.bravo@iosco.org
Website: www.iosco.org/about/?subsection=monitoring_group

Ms. Jennifer DiClerico
Email: Jenniferdiclerico@ifac.org
Website: www.ifac.org

Ms. Rocio Goudie
Email: rgoudie@ipiob.org
Website: www.ipiob.org

IFAC welcomes today’s announcement from the IFRS Foundation Trustees to take further, timely steps to assess the possibility of establishing a new Sustainability Standards Board (SSB). We concur that there is “broad demand for the IFRS Foundation to play a role.” A Sustainability Standards Board is best positioned to lead the ongoing rationalization of a coherent global system for reporting requirements addressing enterprise value creation, sustainable development, and evolving stakeholder expectations. We agree with the Trustees’ conclusion that moving with urgency is a key factor for success. This can be accomplished by leveraging the expertise and standards that already exist as a result of the work by CDP, CDSB, GRI, IIRC, SASB, as well as the TCFD. For example, the recently released report on climate-related disclosure demonstrates the value of their continued collaboration to this global system.  

IFAC CEO Kevin Dancey, said “IFAC encourages our members and stakeholders to remain focused on this important initiative, to continue to engage in discussions and consultations that foster greater alignment and harmonization, and to offer their expertise to the establishment of this new Sustainability Standards Board and a global solution to the current fragmented reporting ecosystem.”

IFAC reiterates its support for this initiative, and stands ready to assist the Trustees as they move forward on this important work.

See IFAC's response to the IFRS Foundation's Consultation Paper on Sustainability Reporting and Enhanced Corporate Reporting: The Way Forward.

This is the fourth installment of a 6-month publication series titled Anti-Money Laundering, The Basics.

The series provides professional accountants with a better understanding of how money laundering works, the risks they face, and what they can do to mitigate these risks and make a positive contribution to the public interest. 

This publication outlines an agreed-upon procedures engagement, identifies the benefits to clients of offering such services, and when an AUP engagement is appropriate. It also covers examples of financial and non-financial subject matters, six short case studies with example procedures that might be applied and two illustration AUP reports from ISRS 4400 (Revised).

Designed for use by small- and medium-sized practices (SMPs), this brochure explains and differentiates the range of audit, review, compilation, and agreed-upon procedures services which SMPs can provide and tailor to meet the needs of their small- and medium-sized entity (SME) clients. It can help current and prospective clients understand the range of services available, when they are appropriate, as well as their benefits.

See your national professional accountancy organization (PAO) for a customizable version to which you can add your contact details.

IFAC is submitting this comment letter to accelerate the journey towards a coherent global system for reporting sustainability information.

In answer to the fundamental issues at stake—is there a need for a global set of internationally recognized sustainability reporting requirements and should the IFRS Foundation play a leading role through the establishment of a new sustainability standards board—IFAC believes, based on extensive stakeholder outreach, that the answer is a resounding “Yes.”

The outbreak of COVID-19 and the subsequent economic recession have required substantial and rapidly deployed government interventions across the world. IFAC and the MOSAIC Steering Committee partners are delighted to host the Building Resilient and Sustainable Economies Forum, which will be held online December 7 - 11, 2020.

What if we could see into the future? What if today we could know the events and forces that will shape our profession? What if we could design learning and development programs to not only prepare accountants for today’s challenges but also to anticipate tomorrow’s challenges?