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.
This Biennial Review provides a high-level summary of our activities in 2023 and 2024. Over this period, we completed a number of significant long-running projects. We also developed and finalized our 2024-2028 Strategy and Work Program, which builds on the achievements during the previous Strategy and Work Program, that spanned 2019-2023.
