The Fast Future With IFAC is a conversational podcast series that features innovative SMP practitioners sharing how they’re adapting to the rapidly changing global economy.

Episode three features a conversation with Andrew Van De Beek, a member of the Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ). His firm, Illumin8, is based on the Mornington Peninsula near Melbourne, Australia.

IFAC principal Kristy Illuzzi spoke with Andrew about a range of pressing topics for SMPs, including:

• Choosing technology investments
• Cybersecurity
• Workplace culture and mental health
• Achieving practice transformation

Click below or visit IFAC's iTunes podcast channel to listen to this episode. Be sure to subscribe to catch our next conversation with an innovative practitioner, coming soon.

(Back to the Fast Future With IFAC homepage.)

The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) today released the Report, Elevating Ethics and Independence Standards for a Complex World, summarizing the Board’s accomplishments for 2020 and 2021.

“This Report includes my final message as IESBA Chairman and showcases the significant progress that the IESBA has made on behalf of the public interest during a time of great uncertainty,” said Dr. Stavros Thomadakis, former Chairman of the IESBA. “This includes the critical work that has been completed to strengthen the International Independence Standards, especially in relation to Non-Assurance Services, Fees, and the definition of a public interest entity; as well as timely and important milestones in projects related to Tax planning, Technology, and Independence in Group Audits. I am also proud of the extensive work that has been done jointly with certain National Standards Setters to highlight the applicability of the International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including International Independence Standards) to the unique challenges posed by the COVID-19 Pandemic.”

The 2020-2021 Report provides an overview of the IESBA’s extensive stakeholder outreach efforts. It also provides information about the Board’s partnership with IFAC to promote awareness, adoption, and effective implementation of the Code.

“As evidenced by this report, the IESBA’s body of work during the years the world was engulfed in a global pandemic is as important as it is impressive,” said IESBA Chair Gabriela Figueiredo Dias. “The IESBA successfully pushed key strategic initiatives further – such as the work to strengthen the International Independence Standards – while skillfully pivoting to address the real-time issues affecting professional accountants brought on by innovations in technology and the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The Report also provides an overview of the IESBA’s Consultative Advisory Group (CAG) and includes a message from the IESBA CAG Chairman, Mr. Gaylen Hansen.

Click here to learn more about IESBA.

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 ethics standards, including auditor independence requirements, which seek to raise the bar for ethical conduct and practice for all professional accountants through a robust, globally operable International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including International Independence Standards) (the Code).

This IESBA Sustainability and Ethics Discussion examines the critical role that complying with ethics standards, including on independence, plays in ensuring reliable and trustworthy sustainability information. The one-hour, live-streamed conversation between IESBA Chair, Gabriela Figueiredo Dias; IESBA Sustainability Working Group Chair and UK Financial Reporting Council Executive Director, Mark Babington, and Financial Conduct Authority Director of ESG, Sacha Sadan provided key insights about the applicability of the International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including International Independence Standards) (the Code) to the preparation and presentation of sustainability information and the provision of assurance thereon.

The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) invites stakeholders to its global webinar on its recently released pronouncement, Revisions to the Definitions of Listed Entity and Public Interest Entity in the Code.

• The webinar is scheduled for May 25, 10am EDT. Click here to register.

The one-hour live-streamed event will be presented by Mike Ashley, IESBA Public Interest Entity (PIE) Task Force Chair, and Andrew Mintzer, IESBA PIE Rollout Working Group Chair.

The revised provisions extend the scope of application of additional independence requirements for audits of financial statements of PIEs through enlarging the universe of entities that are PIEs. The revised provisions recognize the essential role relevant local bodies play in identifying the specific entities that should be scoped in as PIEs in their jurisdictions, encouraging them to properly refine the PIE categories in the expanded IESBA definition and adding any other PIE categories relevant to their environments. The revised provisions provide guidance to the local bodies in this regard. There is also a new transparency requirement for firms to publicly disclose the application of independence requirements for PIEs where they have done so.

The webinar will be held in English and available on YouTube.

For more on how the IESBA is strengthening international independence standards, visit www.ethicsboard.org/strengtheingIIS

Recently, the IESBA hosted two global webinars on the Board's exposure draft, Proposed Revisions to the Code Relating to the Definition of Engagement Team and Group Audits. Both webinars provided an overview of the exposure draft and opportunities for stakeholders to participate in a questions and answers session with the presenters. 

• Click here for the April 11 Webinar: presented by Ms. Caroline Lee, IESBA Deputy Chair and Chair of the IESBA’s Engagement Team – Group Audits Independence (ET-GA) Task Force, and Ms. Denise Canavan, former IESBA Technical Advisor and member of the ET-GA Task Force
• Click here for the April 19 Webinar: presented by Ms. Caroline Lee and Mr. Andrew Pinkney, IESBA Technical Advisor and member of the ET-GA Task Force

The proposals in the Exposure Draft establish provisions that comprehensively address independence considerations for firms and individuals involved in an engagement to perform an audit of group financial statements. The proposals also address the independence implications of the change in the definition of an engagement team―a concept central to an audit of financial statements―in the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board's (IAASB) International Standard on Auditing (ISA) 220, Quality Management for an Audit of Financial Statements. The proposals were developed in close coordination with the IAASB's group audits and quality management projects.

Comments to the exposure draft are requested by May 31, 2022.

The current environment of rapid technological change continues to impact the way organizations operate, presenting both opportunities and challenges. The accountancy profession is not immune to this disruption and is also in the process of being transformed. This is according to a new thought leadership publication developed by the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada), the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS), the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA), and the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). The publication highlights the need for the profession to redefine its value proposition, build new skills for the future and complete a competence paradigm shift in order to remain relevant.

Mindset and Enabling Skills of Professional Accountants – A Competence Paradigm Shift recognizes that the accountancy profession has a strong foundation to build on, but an enhanced technological literacy is essential in the information age. A shift in professional accountants’ education and training is needed to reflect emerging opportunities, with upskilling and “evergreen” learning becoming more important than ever. The profession needs to adopt a mindset that continually challenges and leads to an evolution of skills more rapidly than in the past, to harness the opportunities of the changing world and meet the needs of society.

Mindset and Enabling Skills of Professional Accountants – A Competence Paradigm Shift completes a four-part thought leadership series stemming from a collaborative exploratory paper and global roundtable event called Ethical Leadership in an Era of Complexity and Digital Change, which CPA Canada, ICAS and IFAC jointly hosted early in 2021.  It follows three earlier publications - Complexity and the Professional Accountant: Practical Guidance for Ethical Decision-Making, Technology is a Double-Edged Sword: Opportunities and Challenges for the Accountancy Profession, and Identifying and Mitigating Bias and Mis- and Disinformation.

The publication is available on the IFAC Knowledge Gateway and the IESBA’s webpage Technology: Ethics & Independence Considerations.

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About CPA Canada
Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada) works collaboratively with the provincial, territorial and Bermudian CPA bodies, as it represents the Canadian accounting profession, both nationally and internationally. This collaboration allows the Canadian profession to champion best practices that benefit business and society, as well as prepare its members for an ever-evolving operating environment featuring unprecedented change. Representing more than 220,000 members, CPA Canada is one of the largest national accounting bodies worldwide. cpacanada.ca

About ICAS
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) is the global professional body for Chartered Accountants. We educate, examine and lead, enabling excellence whilst always working for the wider public good. All 23,000 ICAS members have earned our world-class CA designation of Chartered Accountant, the qualification that’s shaped an international business community spanning industries and continents, full of local heroes and corporate leaders. And we continually foster the bonds between our members, so CAs at all stages of their careers can learn from shared experience and connect their ambitions to success. For further information please visit – icas.com.

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 ethics standards, including auditor independence requirements, which seek to raise the bar for ethical conduct and practice for all professional accountants through a robust, globally operable International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including International Independence Standards) (the Code).

About IFAC

The International Federation of Accountants (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. Comprised of 180 members and associates in more than 130 countries and jurisdictions, IFAC represents more than 3 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry and commerce.

Over four decades, IFAC has represented the global profession and supported the development, adoption, and implementation of international standards that underpin the contributions of today’s global accountancy profession. IFAC has maintained a long-term approach to building and strengthening a global accountancy profession that supports transparent, accountable, and sustainable organizations, financial markets, and economies.

The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) today released a public survey seeking broad stakeholder input to inform the development of its Strategy and Work Plan (SWP) 2024-2027. The survey can be downloaded from the IESBA’s website. Responses are requested by Friday, July 8, 2022.

“The accountancy profession plays a critically important role in supporting economic growth and stability worldwide in these uncertain and rapidly changing times,” said IESBA Chair Gabriela Figueiredo Dias. “The IESBA must therefore be open, agile and proactive in evolving the Code so that it remains robust and relevant in safeguarding public trust and confidence in the work of professional accountants as the context and the challenges change. The ultimate purpose of IESBA’s future SWP is to actively respond to the changing needs of the economic system by providing appropriate and relevant standards for professional accountants as they adapt their professional activities and work methods and evolve their services to meet those changing needs.”

The survey seeks input from all stakeholders on what key trends, developments or issues the IESBA should consider as it begins the process of developing its SWP 2024 – 2027. The SWP is expected to be finalized by the end of 2023 for release in early 2024.

Click here for more information. 

The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) today released a revised definition of a PIE together with other revised provisions in the International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including International Independence Standards) (the Code). The revised provisions specify a broader list of categories of entities as PIEs whose audits should be subject to additional independence requirements to meet stakeholders’ heightened expectations concerning auditor independence when an entity is a PIE.

“The concept of a PIE is central to the application of the IIS and determines how far an auditor must go in meeting the fundamental requirement to be independent,” said IESBA Chair Gabriela Figueiredo Dias. “The revised definition and related provisions represent the third pillar in our package of measures to significantly strengthen auditor independence in the public interest, following the release of our revised Non-Assurance Services and Fees standards last year.”

To recognize diversity in jurisdictional contexts, the IESBA has taken a novel approach of expanding the PIE definition globally at a high level while providing guidance to regulators, national standard setters and other relevant local bodies on tailoring the broad definition for jurisdictional specificities. Among other matters, the revisions also:

• Articulate an overarching objective for additional independence requirements for audits of financial statements of PIEs.
• Provide guidance on factors to consider when determining the level of public interest in an entity.
• Replace the term “listed entity” with a new term “publicly traded entity,” providing a definition of the latter term.
• Recognize the essential role local bodies responsible for the adoption of the Code play in delineating the specific entities that should be scoped in as PIEs in their jurisdictions, encouraging them to properly refine the PIE categories and adding any other categories relevant to their environments.
• Introduce a transparency requirement for firms to publicly disclose the application of independence requirements for PIEs where they have done so.

The IESBA coordinated the development of these revisions closely with the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) given that some of the terms and concepts that were considered are common to both Boards’ standards. The IAASB is pursuing a project to consider a number of matters relevant to its standards arising from the finalization of the IESBA’s PIE provisions, including whether and how to address the transparency requirement noted above in the IAASB’s standards.

The revised PIE definition and related provisions become effective for audits of financial statements for periods beginning on or December 15, 2024. Early adoption is permitted and encouraged.

The IESBA is also releasing a number of conforming amendments to the Code as a result of the issuance of the IAASB’s suite of quality management standards in December 2020. These conforming amendments will be effective as of December 15, 2022.

Click here to watch IESBA's April 5th webinar on the Board's recently released exposure draft Proposed Technology-related Revisions to the Code, which includes changes to the International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including International Independence Standards) (the Code). This one-hour zoom-based event also included an opportunity for stakeholders to participate in a questions and answers session with the presenters, Mr. Richard Huesken, IESBA member and Chair of the Technology Task Force, and Mr. Gregory Driscoll, IESBA technical advisor and member of the Technology Task Force.

The IESBA’s technology exposure draft represents the IESBA’s firm response to the transformative effects of technology by enhancing the Code’s robustness and expanding its relevance in an environment being reshaped by rapid technological advancements. The proposed amendments will guide the ethical mindset and behavior of professional accountants in business and in public practice as they deal with changes brought by technology in their work processes and the content of the services they provide. The proposed revisions build on the role and mindset changes that became effective last December, and the revised Non-Assurance Services (NAS) provisions that will become effective in December 2022.

Together with ICAEW, The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) today released a new installment in its Anti-Money Laundering: The Basics educational series: Installment Eight: Crime Trends.  

The publication is part of a 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 eight looks at recent crime trends like human trafficking and terrorist financing and the role money laundering plays.  

Anti-Money Laundering: The Basics is user-friendly, easily accessible, and 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/.