The March 19, 2020 IESBA webinar will highlight key aspects of the Board’s  January 2020 Exposure Draft: Proposed Revisions to the Fee-Related Provisions of the Code.

The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) today submitted its response to the IFRS Foundation’s Consultation Paper on Sustainability Reporting, issuing a resounding “yes” to the question of whether an international sustainability standards board is needed to lead a coherent global system of interconnected corporate reporting that will rationalize the current fragmented ecosystem for sustainability information.

Reiterating the themes of its September 2020 call-to-action, Enhancing Corporate Reporting: The Way Forward, IFAC calls for the creation of the new board alongside the IASB under the IFRS Foundation. The proposed board would address the urgent and growing demand from investors, policy makers and regulators for a reporting system that delivers consistent, comparable, reliable, and assurable information relevant to enterprise value creation, sustainable development, and evolving stakeholder expectations.

“This is a significant opportunity to bring new relevance to professional accountants’ work in corporate reporting and assurance and will advance the public interest,” said IFAC CEO Kevin Dancey. “The accountancy profession must continue to play an active role in helping companies, economies, and societies achieve a more sustainable future, made all the more urgent due to the climate emergency. IFAC stands ready to engage with the IFRS Foundation, as well as our member organizations and other stakeholders, to ensure the success of this important initiative.”

IFAC encourages our members and other stakeholders to review our response and engage in this important conversation with the IFRS Trustees.

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 175 members and associates in more than 130 countries and jurisdictions, representing more than 3 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) has issued Non-Authoritative Amendments to IPSAS 41, Financial Instruments, to clarify the requirements for classifying, recognizing, and measuring a range of important public sector specific financial instruments.

This non-authoritative guidance is the final output from the IPSASB’s Public Sector Specific Financial Instruments (PSSFI) project and applies to four monetary items unique to the public sector: monetary gold, currency in circulation, International Monetary Fund (IMF) quota subscriptions, and Special Drawing Rights (SDRs).

The guidance underlines that public sector items that meet the definition of a financial asset or financial liability should be accounted for by applying existing IPSAS principles. It also clarifies the principles themselves to help improve financial information provided on public sector specific financial instruments.

“The publication of additional non-authoritative guidance in IPSAS 41, Financial Instruments, will enable preparers and users of public sector financial statements to obtain more relevant and comparable information that faithfully represents their public sector specific financial instruments,” said Ian Carruthers, IPSASB Chair. “Now more than ever, high quality financial information will help enhance government decision making as entities consider the use and issuance of these monetary items to address challenges posed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.”

A Staff Q&A document will be released after this pronouncement to provide additional background information.

About the IPSASB
The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) works to strengthen public financial management globally through developing and maintaining accrual-based International Public Sector Accounting Standards® (IPSAS®) and other high-quality financial reporting guidance for use by governments and other public sector entities. It also raises awareness of IPSAS and the benefits of accrual adoption. The Board receives support from the Asian Development Bank, the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada, the New Zealand External Reporting Board, and the governments of Canada and New Zealand. The structures and processes that support the operations of the IPSASB are facilitated by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). For copyright, trademark, and permissions information, please go to permissions or contact permissions@ifac.org.

About the Public Interest Committee
The governance and standard-setting activities of the IPSASB are overseen by the Public Interest Committee (PIC), to ensure that they follow due process and reflect the public interest. The PIC is comprised of individuals with expertise in public sector or financial reporting, and professional engagement in organizations that have an interest in promoting high-quality and internationally comparable financial information.

On June 10, 2020 the IAASB will host a webinar on the Public Consultation on Proposed Guidance: Extended External Reporting (EER) Assurance. In this 90-minute webinar Lyn Provost, IAASB Member and Chair of the EER Task Force, will explain:

The rapid rise of cryptocurrencies and assets and the enabling blockchain technology has led to significant international interest and scrutiny by businesses, accountants, regulators, governments, investors and a multitude of others.

For the accountancy profession, there is increasing focus on the accounting and control implications associated with the crypto space.

These are challenging and tough times. Our lives have changed, both personally and professionally and the world around us has come to a standstill, impacting national and global economies.

The African continent was, for a brief time, thought to have avoided the spread of the coronavirus. As the number of cases on the African continent has grown, many governments are taking steps to limit the spread of the disease, including closing of non-essential businesses, issuing lockdowns and curfews, and enacting other preventive measures to enforce social distancing.

The focus on auditor’s reports has increased in the current environment as investors and other users of financial statements seek greater transparency from entities around the impacts of Covid-19 in the financial statements, as well as greater transparency into the audit.

The pandemic environment has led to measures such as social distancing which have changed the way that auditors and their clients perform their work. The environment is also significantly changing the economic realities for many entities and the change is continuing. Auditors need to be ready to react, while ensuring they maintain a commitment to audit quality and adherence to professional standards.