The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), which comprises 180 member and associate organizations and represents over 3 million professional accountants globally, welcomes the opportunity to provide input into the European Commission’s work to enhance corporate reporting—including a focus on corporate governance, statutory audit, and supervisory aspects of the ecosystem that delivers relevant, reliable, and comparable information to stakeholders.

As the voice of the global accountancy profession, IFAC understands the crucial role that auditors, as well as professional accountants more broadly, play in high-quality corporate reporting.  But no matter how skilled or well-resourced, auditors alone cannot overcome significant shortcomings in other key areas of the reporting ecosystem—especially the role of directors, audit committees, and those charged with governance.

IFAC believes that global standards promote global methodologies, which lead to enhanced and more consistent quality in both reporting and assurance.  We support high-quality, globally-applicable standards for financial reporting developed by the IASB, sustainability disclosure developed by the ISSB, audit and assurance developed by the IAASB, as well as the IESBA International Code of Ethics.  We also believe audit firms are best placed to provide not only audits of financial statements but also assurance on sustainability disclosures.

IFAC CEO Kevin Dancey said, “Corporate governance, audit, and supervision have historically focused on financial statement reporting for investors and other providers of capital.  But now that sustainability-related disclosure is becoming mainstream, this information must also be high-quality and trustworthy.  The accountancy profession, with its responsibility to act in the public interest, has an essential role to play in this evolution of corporate reporting.”

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.

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

Episode one features an interview with Amela Kmetas, a member of the Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ). Her small firm in Melbourne, Australia specializes in taxation advice, management accounting, budgeting, and bookkeeping.

Our host, IFAC principal Kristy Illuzzi, spoke with Amela about many pressing issues facing the SMPs, including:

• The impact of technological advances on the firm’s business model
• The firm’s experience with cybersecurity
• Covid-19’s effect on the firm, its clients, and its employees
• Advisory services
• Recruiting and hiring

Visit IFAC's iTunes podcast channel or click below to listen to this episode of The Fast Future With IFAC.

Stay tuned for our next conversation with an innovative practitioner, coming in March.

(Back to the Fast Future With IFAC homepage.)

To mark this year’s International Women's Day (IWD), we have invited two empowering leaders and diversity champions:

Milton Segal is qualified Chartered Accountant (SA) with a master’s degree in commerce with a taxation specialization.

He is an Executive Director in charge of the standards department at the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA).

Within standards, Milton leads the technical team. The following key areas form part of this business unit:

• Corporate Reporting – the IFRS team, the integrated reporting, thinking and sustainability team, as well as the Members in Business (Technical) team.
• Taxation – policy, advocacy, training and thought leadership
• Audit and Assurance
• Legislation and Governance
• Public Sector
• Ethics

His expertise is in technical IFRS reporting, audit technical and non-financial reporting.

A former academic, Milton led the Financial Accounting division for the internationally renowned School of Accountancy at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) where he was also the postgraduate program head.

Milton is an established researcher and has published papers in local and international journals and has presented papers both within South Africa and abroad.

He currently still examines master’s theses and serves as a reviewer for internationally rated research journals.

Through SAICA, Milton sits on the Value Reporting Foundation (VRF) council, the International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB) Emerging Economies Group (EEG), and The Integrated Reporting Committee of South Africa board.

Providing citizens with the information to understand how the tax system works, the rights and obligations of taxpayers, and how citizens can influence the evolution of the tax system, is vital to building public trust in tax systems, a key component in tax morale.