History of the IESBA’s Technology Initiative

The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), the voice of the global accountancy profession, announces the election of Asmâa Resmouki as its President. Mrs. Resmouki is the first IFAC President from the Africa-Middle East region and the third female President. She will serve a two-year term through November 2024, serving previously as IFAC Deputy President since November 2020.

“I am honored to have been elected IFAC’s next president, and proud to be the organization’s first president from the Africa – Middle East Region.  This is a clear example of IFAC leading by example in the area of diversity,” said Mrs. Resmouki.  “I look forward to continuing to work with IFAC’s Board and management to deliver on our public interest mandate, and to progress our positive impacts on a strong and sustainable accountancy profession, strong and sustainable private and public sector organizations, and strong and sustainable financial markets and economies.”

Mrs. Resmouki joined the IFAC Board in November 2017, originally nominated by the Ordre Des Experts Comptables—Morocco. She served as the Governance Committee Chair in 2020, before taking the role of the Planning and Finance Committee (PFC) Chair in 2021 and 2022. In addition to her work with IFAC, she was the first female President of the Pan African Federation of Accountants (PAFA), after serving on the PAFA Board for six years.

Mrs. Resmouki has over 30 years of experience in the profession, including as a Big-4 Audit partner at EY and Deloitte. In 2020, she started her consultancy practice where she has been assisting different organizations in projects relating to the profession and to advisory services.  

Jean Bouquot Named Deputy President

IFAC also announced the election of Jean Bouquot as Deputy President.  Mr. Bouquot joined the IFAC Board in November 2020, nominated by Compagnie Nationale des Commissaires aux Comptes (CNCC) and Conseil National de l'Ordre des Experts-Comptables . Mr. Bouquot served as president of the CNCC from 2017 to 2020 and was also a President and Deputy President of the Compagnie des Commissaires aux Comptes (CRCC) de Versailles from 2015 to 2017. He currently serves as a Board member of the Fédération Internationale des Experts Comptables et Commissaires aux Comptes Francophones (FIDEF).

Mr. Bouquot has over 42 years of experience as an auditor in various positions with a wide exposure to international activities. He was a Partner with EY from 2002 until 2020 and was in charge of the company’s assurance service line for France/Luxembourg/Maghreb from 2008 to 2015.

New Board Members Elected

IFAC also announced new board members, maintaining a female-majority board for the fourth consecutive year. IFAC places a priority on diversity in professional, gender, and geographic representation on its board and advisory groups.

The new and reappointed IFAC Board members and their nominating member organizations are:

New appointments:

• Ms. Kathryn Byrne (AICPA, USA)
• Mr. Francisco A. M. Sant’Anna (CFC / IBRACON, Brazil)
• Prof. Sidharta Utama (IAI, Indonesia)

Reappointments:

• Mrs. Fiona Wilkinson (CCAB (ICAEW), UK)
• Mr. Yeong Kyun Ahn (KICPA, Korea, Republic of)
• Ms. Joan Curry (CAI, Ireland)
• Ms. Caroline Gardner (CIPFA, UK)
• Dr. Winnie Nyamute (ICPAK, Kenya)
• Mr. Ismaila Zakari (ICAN, Nigeria)

New IFAC Member Organizations Admitted

In addition to the election of new Board members, the IFAC Council also approved a new member and new associate member organizations.

New IFAC Member:

• Ordre National des Experts-Comptables et des Comptables Agréés du Burkina Faso

New Associates:

• Association of Professional Financial Managers (Azerbaijan)
• Ordre National des Experts Comptables et des Comptables Agréés du Mali
• Qatari Association of Certified Public Accountants
• Auditors' Chamber of Ukraine

The new appointments and membership decisions were approved at IFAC’s 2022 Council meeting, held on November 15.

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 more than 180 members and associates in 135 jurisdictions, representing more than 3 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.

In 2020 we produced an evergreen Strategic Plan: one that has the flexibility to adapt to emerging opportunities and risks, but which is also anchored in our Vision, Purpose, Values, and Strategic Objectives, which have proven durable and stood the test of time.

Several factors influenced our thinking as we worked on updating the Strategic Plan for 2023.

Professor Sidharta Utama joined the IFAC Board in November 2022, nominated by the Institute of Indonesia Chartered Accountants (IAI).

He is a professor of Accounting at Universitas Indonesia (UI). He serves as an independent commissioner, chair and member of audit committee in a number of listed companies. He is the chair of the advisory board of the Indonesia Institute for Corporate Directorship and the secretary of the National Committee on Governance Policy, Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs. He has been the vice rector on finance and general affairs at UI and the chairman of the Indonesia Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency.

Prof. Utama serves as the member of the management board at IAI, the oversight board at the Indonesian Institute of Chartered Public Accountants, the steering committee on Financial Accounting policy of the central bank, and the Committee on Public Accountant Profession, Ministry of Finance. He represents IAI as the council member of ASEAN Federation of Accountants. He was also a member of the International Accounting Education Standards Board and the Indonesian Accounting Standards Board.

Prof. Utama obtained his undergraduate degree in accounting from UI, MBA in finance and information system from Indiana University, and PhD in accounting from Texas A&M university. He is a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Financial Analyst and has published research papers in accounting, corporate governance, and finance.

Kathryn Byrne joined the IFAC Board in November 2022 having been nominated by the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. She previously served as a member of IFAC’s Nominating Committee (2018-2021), chair of the Compliance Advisory Panel (2016-2017), and member of the Compliance Advisory Panel (2010-2015).

Ms. Byrne has more than 35 years of experience delivering services to domestic and foreign corporations, ensuring they are following US GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). She is a member of the Group Governance Council of Mazars Group and was a Signature Bank board member for over 16 years until April 2022. During this time, she served as Lead Director and was a member of the examining, compensation, risk, and nominating committees. She is also chair of Women@Mazars, is a Trustee of The Bolger Foundation, a mentor to a Liberian student for SHE-CAN and serves on the James Madison University College of Business Board of Advisors.

Ms. Byrne graduated from James Madison University with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and Finance. She also completed the Mazars Next MBA Program.

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Robotic Process Automation

Trends

B. Technology Landscape

45. This section covers the trends, opportunities, and impact/risks of the following technologies and related issues: Robotic Process Automation (RPA), AI, blockchain, cloud computing, and data governance, including cybersecurity.

The IESBA’s Rollout initiative is intended to promote awareness and support the adoption and effective implementation of the changes to the International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including International Independence Standards) (“the Code”) arising from the IESBA’s Definitions of Listed Entity and Public Interest Entity project.

The Working Group will release materials that facilitate this initiative, such as but not limited to

Today, the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) released a new report providing insight into climate-related disclosure. Getting to Net Zero: A Global Review of Corporate Disclosures focuses on corporate emissions reduction reporting. It finds that inconsistency and incomparability of target disclosures may pose challenges for investors, regulators, and other stakeholders who require actionable information. The report’s findings strongly support the movement in global policy towards rapidly enhancing the usefulness of disclosures on climate-related targets and transition plans.

Getting to Net Zero is based on 2020 corporate reporting and provides a useful benchmark for climate disclosures which are under development by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG), among other initiatives. The report also comes during the COP27 conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, where delegates from over 190 countries, many of which have proposed or set net-zero targets for around mid-century, gather to discuss and progress climate actions.

“With COP27, this is perfect time to dig into what is being disclosed and explore how emissions disclosures need to become more decision-useful,” said IFAC CEO Kevin Dancey. “The accountancy profession is well positioned to drive improvements in climate reporting, ensuring information is trusted and decision-useful for management and boards, investors, and all stakeholders.”

Some key takeaways from Getting to Net Zero include:

• 66% of the large, exchange-traded companies IFAC reviewed included some type of emissions reduction target in their corporate disclosures.
• These emissions targets used a variety of terminology and only 39% incorporated Scope 3 emissions.
• Most companies (90%) who disclose emissions targets also provide a disclosure about how they plan to reach their target.
• Only 24% of companies with a plan include some past expenditure or future estimate of expenditures to implement plan actions.

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 7th edition of the Africa Congress of Accountants (ACOA2023) will be hosted in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire from 15-18 May 2023 under the theme Structural Transformation and Growth of Africa Economies. This unique edition of the congress will gather more than 2000 delegates and speakers from more than 65 English-, French-, and Portuguese-speaking countries, and provide an excellent opportunity to connect, share, and expand in Africa.