Nancy Cheng was appointed to the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) in January 2025. She was nominated by the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada).

Ms. Cheng is currently the Board Chair of icddr,b, an international non-profit public health research institution based in Bangladesh. She is the Audit Committee Chair of Shared Services Canada and an Audit Committee member of Public Safety Canada, two departments in the Government of Canada. She also serves on the Board of CARE Canada.

Prior to her retirement, Ms. Cheng was an Assistant Auditor General at the Office of the Auditor General of Canada, a senior practitioner in financial and performance auditing with over 30 years of experience. She was a member of the Canadian Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (AASB). She has served as its Vice-Chair and Chair of the AASB Steering Committee.

Ms. Cheng is a Fellow Canadian Chartered Professional Accountant, Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCPA, FCA). She is a member of CPA Canada and the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario (CPA Ontario) as well as a member of the Financial Executives International Canada (FEI Canada) and the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD).

Ms. Cheng studied Commerce at Carleton University (Canada).

Mikiko Ono became a member of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) in January 2025.

She is currently a Director of Sustainability Disclosure Regulations and Investor & Stakeholder Engagement at Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. Since joining the company as London Representative in Investor Relations in 2017, Ms. Ono has spearheaded engagement with global investors and sustainability disclosure practices mainly for capital markets by integrating financial and non-financial information. She also leads a company-wide sustainability disclosure project, collaborating closely with assurance professionals and colleagues across the globe to secure sustainability assurance for consolidated information, aligning with international disclosure standards.

Prior to her role at Recruit Holdings, Ms. Ono held various roles at major listed telecommunications companies in Japan. Her responsibilities spanned investor relations, international mergers and acquisitions, governance, and monitoring of investees, as well as marketing roles in both Japan and France.

Ms. Ono also served as a Technical Reference Member for the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) of the IFRS Foundation from 2022 to 2023. She is also a Certified Member Analyst of the Securities Analysts Association of Japan (CMA). She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Tokyo.

Svetlana Berger, CPA, CA, is an Associate Director with the Canadian Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (AASB). In her role, she leads efforts to support the Board's planning, prioritizing and execution of initiatives, including the development and issuance of auditing, assurance, and related services standards.

Ms. Berger has over 15 years of experience in standard setting. Before joining the AASB, she held leadership roles at IBM Canada and was a part-time university instructor. Her career began at PwC LLP in Toronto.

Ms. Berger holds an undergraduate degree and Master of Accounting degree from the University of Waterloo (Canada). She is a member of CPA Canada and the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario.

It is with profound sadness that IFEA announces the passing of Imran Vanker, a valued member of the IFEA family. We extend our deepest condolences to his family and friends following the tragic and sudden loss of Imran and his daughter yesterday. Our hearts go out to their loved ones during this unimaginable time.

Imran was a member of the IAASB from 2016 to 2021 and, through his work at the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA) in South Africa, remained an esteemed colleague and member of the IAASB community. His passing, alongside that of his daughter, leaves an irreplaceable void.

Imran was a staunch supporter of IESBA, actively participating as a member of the IESBA-National Standard Setters liaison group. His commitment to ethical behavior was demonstrated through his inspiration and significant contributions during his years of service. 

“Imran will be remembered not only for his many contributions to the audit profession but also for the warmth and goodwill he brought to all IAASB discussions. Imran had a passion for serving the public interest, one that will be hard to replicate,” said Tom Seidenstein, IAASB Chair.

‘’Imran was a friend of the IESBA and a passionate advocate for ethics and integrity in the accounting profession. Imran’s legacy of ethical leadership will continue to guide us, and his memory will remain a source of inspiration for all who strive to uphold the highest standards in our work,” said Gabriela Figueiredo Dias, IESBA Chair.

As an organization, we share in the sorrow of this loss and are keeping the Vanker family in our thoughts. We will continue to honor their memory during this difficult time.

 This is a narrow scope maintenance of standards project to consider targeted amendments to IAASB standards arising from recently approved revisions to the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants’ (IESBA) International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including International Independence Standards) (IESBA Code) related to using the work of an external expert

IAASB Chair Tom Seidenstein has been included in the Accounting Today listing of Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting. 

Accounting Today: “The future of accounting will definitely be more global, and as head of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board, few people have more influence over the future of audit and attest worldwide than Seidenstein, who’s also working to make his standard-setting more agile, more collaborative, and more relevant, while also pioneering areas involving sustainability and technology.”

Read the full listing on the Accounting Today website here.

The IAASB extends its congratulations to the IESBA on the approval of its ethics and independence standards for sustainability reporting and assurance.

This milestone marks a significant step forward in ensuring the integrity and trustworthiness of sustainability information—a crucial foundation for decision-making by investors, policymakers, and stakeholders worldwide. The new standards demonstrate the IESBA’s commitment to addressing the evolving needs of the global economy and society, setting the bar for ethical conduct and independence in this crucial area.

The IAASB is proud to have collaborated with IESBA to ensure interoperability with the IAASB’s recently published International Standard on Sustainability Assurance 5000 to ensure interoperability. Working together, these standards advance the public interest and drives consistency and credibility in sustainability reporting and assurance practices globally. Together, we are contributing to a stronger, more transparent future.

Late yesterday, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), the international body of securities regulators, announced its support for the IAASB’s International Standard on Sustainability Assurance (ISSA) 5000. ISSA 5000 is a new global standard for sustainability assurance developed through a robust, collaborative due process.

In its statement, IOSCO highlights how ISSA 5000 fulfills key IOSCO recommendations to establish a comprehensive global assurance framework for sustainability-related corporate reporting. Critically, ISSA 5000 also requires practitioners to follow a strong ethical framework, a vital component of IOSCO’s recommendations. The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants’ new sustainability-related standards, set for approval later this year, will provide practitioners with the ethics framework needed and meet IOSCO’s recommendation.

With global momentum building for mandatory sustainability reporting, the IAASB notes IOSCO’s encouragement for jurisdictions worldwide to adopt or incorporate ISSA 5000 to enhance confidence and comparability in sustainability disclosures. The IAASB is fully prepared to support jurisdictions in their adoption and implementation efforts. The IAASB will be releasing a series of implementation materials to support ISSA 5000 use in January.

Read IOSCO’s statement on the IOSCO website here.

Learn more about ISSA 5000 here: iaasb.org/issa5000

IAASB Chair Tom Seidenstein delivered the following keynote address during the Accountancy Europe/IFAC webinar, “Shaping the Future of Sustainability Assurance Engagements.” Learn more about the event and access materials from presenters on the IFAC website here.

Good afternoon. I am so pleased to be here today for this timely webinar. I want to express my appreciation to Accountancy Europe and IFAC for hosting this event and for their continued support for global standards, set by an independent standard-setting body committed to a robust due process. And I also want to thank you, the over 1,200 registered participants, who have given up your time to join today.

Today’s webinar is titled, “Shaping the Future of Sustainability Assurance Engagements.” Indeed, my remarks will shortly turn to ISSA 5000, the standard that the International Audit and Assurance Standard Board (the IAASB) approved in September. In fact, I bring good news—this morning, the Public Interest Oversight Board (PIOB), certified the standard for final publication. It is now officially ready to use in Europe and elsewhere.

While ISSA 5000 certification is a big deal for the IAASB, we know that we are part of something bigger. We are at the advent of a new era of external reporting. Users will expect a broader range of information—financial and non-financial information—to assess corporate performance.

Today, policymakers, regulators, standard-setters, and a broad range of market participants together are creating the foundations of a new reporting ecosystem. Well-calibrated actions should help build a system that engenders trust, confidence, and well-functioning economies. In doing so, we can encourage a new generation of professionals to choose careers in reporting. We together can do our part to build more resilient, sustainable, and efficient economies.

We can take a few lessons from the world of financial reporting in terms of constructing this new sustainability reporting ecosystem. The most important is that a trusted reporting should be built on a foundation of:

• High-quality reporting standards,
• Complemented by robust assurance standards,
• Supported by ethical and independent requirements, and
• Overseen by empowered regulatory authorities.

In my mind, the public interest requires those components to:

• Enable global comparability,
• Encourage the development of a cadre of professionals capable of producing and assuring high quality reporting, and
• Be unapologetic in its commitment to quality, rigor, and ethics.

These are points that EU policymakers know well. These components are embedded in the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). When the IAASB initiated the work on ISSA 5000 two short years ago, we committed ourselves to supporting the EU’s leadership.

Make no mistake, the IAASB has created a global baseline that can work in every jurisdiction, in Europe and elsewhere. At the same time, we were particularly conscious of European timelines and requirements under CSRD. It was obvious to the IAASB that we can’t have a globally accepted standard without the European Union, considering its leadership position.

EU deadlines and IOSCO recommendations therefore served as a helpful prompt to complete our work in September of this year, three months faster than originally scheduled. We wanted to give practitioners as much time to prepare.

Timeliness, however, did not come at the expense of our due process and extensive engagement. We involved thousands of stakeholders in six continents through events like this one, our eight roundtables, bilateral meetings, and our exposure draft and comment process. Throughout the consultation and drafting periods, we worked closely with the European Commission, European securities regulators, the Committee of European Auditing Oversight Boards, and EU stakeholders in all sectors. Accountancy Europe deserves special thanks for helping to convene so many helpful discussions.

Willie Botha, the IAASB’s Technical Director, will describe the standard in more detail shortly. I did want to highlight a few elements that either were vital to European requirements or reflects themes we heard in Europe throughout the comment process.

• ISSA 5000 addressed both limited and reasonable assurance engagements. Before finalizing the requirements, we ensured differences in work effort for limited and reasonable assurance were clearer.
• We created an assurance framework that works with both traditional materiality and double materiality concepts and have included enhanced explanatory material to support practitioners.
• We highlighted the work required related to an entity’s materiality process.

In developing ISSA 5000, we were mindful of the practical challenges of implementation. For this reason, we adopted a no “greenfielding” strategy—we built off existing practices already embedded in our well-established and widely used assurance standards, ISAE 3000 and ISAE 3410. We also paid particular attention to scalability and proportionality throughout. This was because we know that there will be a diversity of practitioners for a wide range of engagements, and because we committed to ensuring that the standard is useable and does not create any unnecessary burdens.

Finally, we at the IAASB are committed to support implementation through the issuance of timely guidance. We will release a package of guidance, support videos, and wide range of outreach activities beginning in January 2025. Our focus will be issuing guidance that is concise, focused and pragmatic. We will also certainly depend on partnerships with bodies such as IFAC and Accountancy Europe to amplify these efforts.

So what is next? The hard work did not end with the standard’s approval. At the IAASB, we will support the adoption and implementation with significant energy and resources. As I just mentioned, we will provide a wide range of implementation support. We are also conscious that we need to give the market time to absorb ISSA 5000. We need a period of stability. Therefore, the emphasis will not be on the setting of new standards in the 5000-space. However, we as a Board stand ready to respond to market feedback if adjustments or guidance are necessary. We will be working closely with our advisory council, national standard-setters, and regulators to get this feedback.

We now call upon policymakers and practitioners to adopt ISSA 5000. We are pleased that the European Commission has asked the CEAOB to advise the Commission on how to incorporate ISSA 5000 into CSRD-related requirements. This commitment to a global baseline has and will serve as a catalyst for other jurisdictions to use ISSA 5000 as well.

Earlier, I said that ISSA 5000 addressed many of the elements in CSRD. At the same time, as a global standard, ISSA 5000 does not incorporate the specific requirements unique to Europe, such as the green and digital taxonomies. As the term global baseline implies, we anticipate jurisdictions to add on requirements to meet their regulatory mandates. Our expectation, as the European Commission’s letter to the CEAOB notes, is that “carve outs” should be avoided when they impact the performance of the engagement. We know that the reasonable assurance requirements in ISSA 5000 will not be part of the first-wave requirements for the European Union. That was anticipated in Europe and elsewhere. That is why we distinguished the limited and reasonable assurance requirements clearly.

Let me close by emphasizing the importance of collaboration and cooperation in the journey to develop ISSA 5000. The standard is a testament to the dedicated support and partnership we’ve received, including from organizations like Accountancy Europe, IFAC, and many that have contributed their expertise, insights, and feedback.

As we move forward, the IAASB will continue to engage with stakeholders across sectors, listen to market feedback, and provide the support needed for successful implementation.

Thank you once again for your trust, your collaboration, and your commitment to a future where transparency and integrity in reporting serve the public interest. We look forward to continuing this journey together, building a robust foundation for sustainable economies.