All speeches and session videos from the IESBA Ethics and Independence Conference 2025 are now available on the conference website, offering open access to the key discussions and insights shared.
With about 800 participants - including more than 200 in-person attendees and 35 speakers and moderators from around the world - the conference was a milestone in the global dialogue on the relevance of ethics in the accounting services industry and the financial sector.
Keynotes and panels addressed:
Ethical Conduct and Information Quality in Accounting and Auditing: Safeguarding Market Confidence
The Importance of Ethics in Building Trust in Global Financial Markets
Ethics in a World of Regulatory Shifts and Market Transformation
Trust and Transparency in Capital Markets
Ethical Culture and Governance – Reinforcing Resilience and Public Trust in Accounting Firms
Ethics vs. Innovation? The Future of Technology in Audit and Accounting
The Rise of Private Equity in Accounting: Strategic Partnerships or Increased Risks to Public Interest?
Accountants at a Crossroads: Ethics and the Fight Against Financial Crime
How to Enhance Trust in the Audit Market: a European Perspective
This content is part of a series of initiatives the IESBA will promote throughout October to celebrate Global Ethics Day 2025 (October 15), under the theme “Ethics Re-Envisioned.”
The conference discussions provide valuable contributions to the ongoing reflection on how we can, and should, re-envision the increasingly relevant role of ethics across the accounting profession and the broader financial system.
Throughout the month, the IESBA will invite its community to engage and contribute to the discussion through a series of initiatives, including dedicated videos and polls on each panel topic, content exploring how ethics can be re-envisioned, and highlights of IESBA’s ongoing efforts to strengthen stakeholder engagement and deliver greater public value.
Stay tuned to IESBA on LinkedIn for updates and opportunities to join the conversation.
The 2025 handbook incorporates the tax planning pronouncement that became effective for tax planning services and activities beginning after June 30, 2025.
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.
We also extend our sincere gratitude to Linda de Beer for her dedicated leadership of the PIOB over the past five years. Her tenure coincided with a period of profound change, during which she oversaw the careful implementation of the Monitoring Group’s 2020 Recommendations and guided the PIOB’s oversight through a time of significant global challenge and transformation.
The IAASB and IESBA share with the PIOB a commitment to enhancing trust and confidence in the audit and accountancy profession and the information it provides to stakeholders worldwide. Under Ms. Modise’s leadership, we are confident that our close collaboration with the PIOB will continue to strengthen the international standard-setting system and deliver standards that serve the global public interest.
Gabriela Figueiredo Dias Chair, International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA)
Co-CEO, International Foundation for Ethics and Audit (IFEA)
Tom Seidenstein Chair, International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB)
Co-CEO, International Foundation for Ethics and Audit (IFEA)
In this short video, IESBA Program and Senior Director Ken Siong offers a brief preview of the key topics and discussions that will shape the agenda for the IESBA Board's September meeting.
Featuring IESBA Program and Senior Director Ken Siong
This publication is relevant to all professional accountants, whether in business or in public practice, and sustainability assurance practitioners (SAPs). It provides answers to common questions on:
This publication highlights key aspects of the IESSA that illustrate its proportionality, while the IESSA also provides a robust global ethics and independence baseline for sustainability assurance engagements (SAEs). The proportionality of the IESSA enables it to support the performance of SAEs for entities of all sizes, thereby underpinning public trust in those engagements.
The publication is especially geared towards facilitating the implementation of the IESSA by SAPs that are small and medium practices (SMPs).
The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) today released two new staff publications to enhance understanding and support global adoption and implementation of its ethics standard on Using the Work of an External Expert as well as the International Ethics Standards for Sustainability AssuranceTM (including International Independence StandardsTM) (IESSATM), both of which are effective from December 2026. These publications explain key aspects of the standard related to using the work of an external expert and the proportionality of the ethics and independence provisions for sustainability assurance in the IESSA.
This publication is relevant to all professional accountants, whether in business or in public practice, and sustainability assurance practitioners (SAPs). It provides answers to common questions on:
Evaluating whether to use the work of an external expert
How to identify an external expert
The extended requirements for evaluating the objectivity of an external expert in the context of an audit or other assurance (including sustainability) engagement
Concluding an external expert’s competence, capabilities and objectivity
Potential threats arising from using the work of an external expert
Specific considerations related to the IESSA
Access other resources relating to this standard on the IESBA Experts Page.
This publication highlights key aspects of the IESSA that illustrate its proportionality, while the IESSA also provides a robust global ethics and independence baseline for sustainability assurance engagements (SAEs). The proportionality of the IESSA enables it to support the performance of SAEs for entities of all sizes, thereby underpinning public trust in those engagements.
The publication is especially geared towards facilitating the implementation of the IESSA by SAPs that are small and medium practices (SMPs).
Both publications may also be helpful to jurisdictional standard setters, regulators and oversight bodies, professional accountancy organizations, educational bodies, and other stakeholders.
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.
