Together with ICAEW, The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) today released the sixth installment in its Anti-Money Laundering: The Basics educational series: Installment 6: Businesses in Difficulty.  

The publication is part of a 6-month short series helping accountants enhance their understanding of how money laundering works, the risks they face, and what they can do to mitigate these risks and make a positive contribution to the public interest. Installment six looks at businesses experiencing financial difficulties and the increased risk a professional accountant may face to inadvertently facilitate money laundering.

The installment series, with its focus on accessibility and ease of use, will be a resource for Small and Medium Practices (SMPs,) and accountants less familiar with AML, while also providing guidance for those looking for a quick refresher or reference.

Anti-Money Laundering: The Basics is featured on both the IFAC (landing page) and ICAEW websites and available for download for free. To be globally relevant, the series uses the risk-based approach of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) – the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog -- as a starting point. 

For more information about IFAC, visit www.ifac.org.

For more information about ICAEW, visit https://www.icaew.com/.

This is the sixth installment of a 6-month publication series titled Anti-Money Laundering, The Basics.

The series provides professional accountants with a better understanding of how money laundering works, the risks they face, and what they can do to mitigate these risks and make a positive contribution to the public interest. 

***Please Note: this is a closed event to AFAA Members Only, but will be live streamed on IFAC's YouTube channel***

The IFAC Virtual Knowledge Sharing Event will explore the pervasive nature of technology and its inter-related impact across the fundamental principles of the IESBA Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants. It will feature global experts sharing insights about ethics in the digital age, practical examples, as well as breakout sessions covering potential threats and safeguards. 

Speakers:

• Alan Hatfield, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)
• Ronan O’Loughlin, Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI)
• Simon Hann, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ)

The IESBA today released a new staff publication providing additional context to the Board’s recently proposed revisions to the definition of a public interest entity (PIE). This staff publication supplements the guidance material in the explanatory memorandum of the Exposure Draft Proposed Revisions to the Definitions of Listed Entity and Public Interest Entity in the Code (PIE ED), which was released in January.

This staff publication will assist local regulators, national standard setters or other relevant local bodies in considering and planning adoption of the revised PIE definition when finalized and issued by the IESBA. The IESBA recognizes that there may be refinements to the proposals as a result of the comments received on exposure.

In addition to the staff publication, the IESBA will provide two opportunities on March 25 and 29 for stakeholders to attend a webinar to learn more about the proposals in the PIE ED. Register for either one of the webinars here.

Click here to download the staff publication.

About IESBA

The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) is an independent global standard-setting board. The IESBA’s mission is to serve the public interest by setting ethics standards, including auditor independence requirements, which seek to raise the bar for ethical conduct and practice for all professional accountants through a robust, globally operable International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including International Independence Standards) (the Code).

This publication provides additional context to the Board’s recently proposed revisions to the definition of a public interest entity (PIE) and supplements the guidance material in the explanatory memorandum of the Exposure Draft Proposed Revisions to the Definitions of Listed Entity and Public Interest Entity in the Code (PIE ED), which was released in January.

New rules for how corporate auditors manage the quality of their own work are on their way. But many audit firms are worried that international standards will diverge from those in the U.S., leaving them to cope with a patchwork of do’s and don’ts.

On this episode of Bloomberg Tax's weekly podcast, Talking Tax, host Amanda Iacone talks with IAASB Chair Tom Seidenstein. Tom explains how the IAASB developed its new auditing standards with the input of its US counterpart and why the standards should help shape a similar project in the US.

Listen to Tom's interview

In an article for the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, IAASB Chair Tom Seidenstein addresses COVID-19 and its devestating global challenge. The pandemic has taken and will take far too many lives and put extraordinary pressures on society in general. It has also greatly affected markets, business, and organizations, and the financial and external reporting ecosystem.

Read Tom's article (p. 42)