Today, the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) published a revised building blocks approach to reporting sustainability information—enhancing its previously issued roadmap, The Way Forward. IFAC hopes to foster discussion on how this approach can deliver a global system for consistent, comparable, and assurable sustainability-related information that best meets the needs of investors and other stakeholders.

IFAC CEO Kevin Dancey said, “As the IFRS Foundation continues to consider establishing a new International Sustainability Standards Board and as jurisdiction-specific initiatives progress, IFAC is lending its voice to clarify how components can best fit together to meet the needs of all stakeholders. The IFRS initiative—as well as jurisdiction-specific initiatives—should build on what already exists, help create or contribute to a global system, and accommodate different views of what information stakeholders require. The building blocks approach makes this possible.”

IFAC supports a new standard-setting board under the IFRS Foundation that can lead to the coordination and harmonization of reporting and provide a baseline of requirements addressing sustainability information that is material to enterprise value. The IFRS Foundation has proposed amendments to the Constitution of the Foundation as it continues to consider establishing a new board. IFAC encourages its member organizations to submit comments to this IFRS Foundation consultation.

IFAC welcomes feedback on the building blocks approach and plans to engage with stakeholders at future IFAC events addressing the broader journey to an enhanced corporate reporting world.

About IFAC
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. IFAC is comprised of 180 members and associates in 135 countries and jurisdictions, representing more than 3 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.

IFAC's new building blocks approach to reporting sustainability information enhances the previously issued roadmap, The Way Forward. With this new step, IFAC hopes to foster discussion on how this approach can deliver a global system for consistent, comparable, and assurable sustainability-related information that best meets the needs of investors and other stakeholders.

Amid a rapidly changing world, the first digital native generation is entering the workforce. This joint report from ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and IFAC (the International Federation of Accountants) draws upon the responses of 9,000+ 18-25 year olds to gain insights into how Generation Z’s top concerns may influence what they want from their careers, what attracts them to organizations, and their views on accountancy, business, and the impact of COVID-19.

IFAC supports steps announced today by the IFRS Foundation in its ongoing consideration of whether to establish a new Sustainability Standards Board (SSB) alongside the IASB and under the existing governance structure of the IFRS Foundation. IFAC welcomes the engagement of IOSCO in this important initiative, as outlined in the IFRS Trustee statement as well as in IOSCO’s February 24 media release.

We agree with the Trustees’ strategic views that the new SSB should focus on information material to decisions of investors and other providers of capital and that the new board would initially focus its efforts on climate-related reporting, while also working toward meeting the information needs of investors on other ESG (environmental, social and governance) matters.

Likewise, we agree that a building blocks approach facilitates both the use of existing standards and frameworks (including TCFD) and the flexibility for coordination on reporting requirements that capture wider sustainability impacts, as IFAC articulated in its Way Forward roadmap.

IFAC CEO Kevin Dancey said, “IFAC continues to support the ongoing rationalization of a coherent global system. The IFRS Foundation is uniquely qualified and positioned to lead here, including engagement with existing sustainability-related initiatives and standard setters from key jurisdictions. IFAC looks forward to providing input to the forthcoming IFRS Foundation Constitution consultation and encourages our member bodies and stakeholders to take an active interest in these next steps.”

About IFAC
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. IFAC is comprised of 180 members and associates in 135 countries and jurisdictions, representing more than 3 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.

A global pathway to integrated reporting assurance needs to develop to reinforce both advancements in integrated reporting and in global standard setting for corporate reporting and assurance. The International Integrated Reporting Council and IFAC’s initial thinking, outlined here, is aimed at starting a discussion with the accountancy profession and its key stakeholders on further progressing integrated reporting assurance, with the goal of enhancing confidence in integrated reporting and integrated thinking, and ultimately business resilience and sustainability.

This syllabus and competency matrix for a three-level qualification for professional accountants was developed by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales under the IFAC Professional Accountancy Organization Capacity Building Program funded by the UK Aid from the UK Government. The original Russian version is also available.

The syllabus helps prepare well-rounded advisors who:

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.