The no tolerance stance (i.e., outright removal of the materiality threshold) proposed by IESBA for PIEs (and, for some services, also applies to the non-PIEs) is based on the argument that perception of independence in appearance is key, whereas the IESBA’s mechanism has been the application of the reasonable and informed third party test, which was designed for this purpose and is instead being overridden. A third-party test might not lead to the same outcome as a no stance approach in all cases as the former allows for flexibility.

This Questions and Answers (Q&A) publication is issued by the Staff of the IPSASB to discuss the relevance of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) and related Recommended Practice Guidelines (RPG) for reporting on both climate change and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the general purpose financial reports of public sector entities. 

IFAC has responded to the European Commission’s Review of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD). The NFRD marks another valuable step in the dialogue and evolution toward relevant, reliable, and comparable reporting of non-financial information.