On behalf of the global accountancy profession, IFAC welcomes the opportunity to provide input to the IESSA ED. The global business community and the accountancy profession are at the start of significant transformation with respect to evolving sustainability disclosures. IESBA has an important role, like other standard setters, in this transformation.
We appreciate the significant resources and effort the Board has devoted to this important project. However, the actions of standard setters, regulators and policy makers must be undertaken and calibrated with the priority of being an effective influence on the transformation and by “bringing along relevant stakeholders” in the business community, including the accountancy profession, on this journey. It is important for the IESBA to be a positive influence in this transformation through the creation of practical, easily understandable, and sufficiently flexible standards.
Below are three key matters we urge IESBA to reconsider to enhance the practicality of implementation:
Reducing complexity and calling for transparency from practitioners with respect to relevant, jurisdiction-specific sustainability assurance oversight and enforcement where they conduct engagements.
Ensuring barriers to financial statement auditors providing sustainability assurance to the same client are removed.
Addressing matters of practicality related to value chain considerations—i.e., through revision or removal of proposed requirements.
In order to significantly contribute to national economic and social development, PAOs around the world need a coherent strategy and operating model to realize their full potential. A strategic plan can guide and drive a PAO’s activities and priorities, determining where the organization is going, how it will get there, and how it will know if it gets there.
New evidence came today of the global momentum toward sustainability disclosure. The International Sustainability Standard Board (ISSB) released a new guide to help jurisdictions adopt its sustainability reporting standards, S1 and S2, and announced that more than 20 jurisdictions have indicated plans to incorporate these standards into their legal or regulatory frameworks. These jurisdictions collectively represent nearly 55% of global GDP and more than 30% of global market capitalization.
Commenting on the release of the guide and the new data, Tom Seidenstein and Gabriela Figueiredo Dias, IAASB and IESBA Chairs, respectively, said, “On behalf of our Boards, we congratulate the ISSB on the release of its new adoption guide, which will help jurisdictions navigate the adoption journey and promote necessary consistency and quality for sustainability disclosure. As the IAASB and IESBA continue to progress our proposed standards on sustainability assurance and an ethics framework for sustainability reporting and assurance, we welcome all initiatives aiming at building the necessary capacity and understanding to achieve a consistent application of sustainability related standards, including assurance and ethics standards. Our collective goal is to strengthen stakeholders’ trust and confidence in disclosures.”
New evidence came today of the global momentum toward sustainability disclosure. The International Sustainability Standard Board (ISSB) released a new guide to help jurisdictions adopt its sustainability reporting standards, S1 and S2, and announced that more than 20 jurisdictions have indicated plans to incorporate these standards into their legal or regulatory frameworks. These jurisdictions collectively represent nearly 55% of global GDP and more than 30% of global market capitalization.
Commenting on the release of the guide and the new data, Tom Seidenstein and Gabriela Figueiredo Dias, IAASB and IESBA Chairs, respectively, said, “On behalf of our Boards, we congratulate the ISSB on the release of its new adoption guide, which will help jurisdictions navigate the adoption journey and promote necessary consistency and quality for sustainability disclosure. As the IAASB and IESBA continue to progress our proposed standards on sustainability assurance and an ethics framework for sustainability reporting and assurance, we welcome all initiatives aiming at building the necessary capacity and understanding to achieve a consistent application of sustainability related standards, including assurance and ethics standards. Our collective goal is to strengthen stakeholders’ trust and confidence in disclosures.”
