Audit fees in the U.S. appear to be climbing at a faster pace in recent years than in Canada and Europe, according to a new survey from the International Federation of Accountants.
This IESBA Sustainability and Ethics Discussion examines the critical role that complying with ethics standards, including on independence, plays in ensuring reliable and trustworthy sustainability information. The one-hour, live-streamed conversation between IESBA Chair, Gabriela Figueiredo Dias; IESBA Sustainability Working Group Chair and UK Financial Reporting Council Executive Director, Mark Babington, and Financial Conduct Authority Director of ESG, Sacha Sadan provided key insights about the applicability of the International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including International Independence Standards) (the Code) to the preparation and presentation of sustainability information and the provision of assurance thereon.
Instilling Public Trust and Confidence in Sustainability Reporting and Assurance
As the global voice of the accountancy profession, IFAC has supported a global system for delivering consistent, comparable and assurable sustainability information. Such disclosure must become a core component of the corporate reporting ecosystem that helps stakeholders assess objectives and progress towards addressing the climate crisis and other important environmental, social, and governance matters. European Sustainability Reporting Standards can play an important part in aligning global and jurisdictional-specific goals.
IFAC supports the view that sustainability disclosure requirements should be developed to capture and measure what really matters and to facilitate adoption and implementation in an internationally compatible manner. Alignment between global and jurisdiction-specific requirements, to the extent possible, is key for companies who operate across national borders, who compete for capital globally, and who are working towards a more sustainable future.
IFAC CEO Kevin Dancey said “Collectively, we have an historic opportunity to embrace equivalency and interoperability in sustainability initiatives around the world, to leverage the work of existing high-quality sustainability frameworks, and to avoid costly regulatory fragmentation and complexity. Toward this end, IFAC strongly supports the ISSB’s recently announced working group that will establish dialogue for enhanced compatibility between the ISSB’s recent exposure drafts and ongoing jurisdictional initiatives like that of the European Union.”
The European Commission’s ambitious Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive seeks to put sustainability-related reporting on the same footing as traditional financial reporting—addressing what sustainability information must be reported and requiring its assurance, among other important elements that can enhance corporate reporting. We hope this important work ultimately contributes to—and amplifies the impact of—an emerging global sustainability disclosure system.
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.
Welcomes EFRAG’s public consultation on European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) exposure drafts
