The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) today released its 2023 Annual Report, Respecting the Past, Planning for the Future.

This interactive review of 2023 features comprehensive accounts of the Board’s projects and insights from its leaders, illustrating a period of significant achievement. The achievements include the approval and subsequent launches of the Exposure Draft on International Ethics Standards for Sustainability Assurance (including International Independence Standards) (IESSA) and ethics standards for sustainability reporting and the final Ethics Standards for Tax Planning and Related Services.

2023 also saw the board approve an Exposure Draft on Using the Work of an External Expert and the IESBA’s Strategy and Work Plan for 2024-2027, all aimed at strengthening the IESBA’s International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including International Independence Standards) (the Code).

"2023 has been a transformative year for the IESBA, marked by our continued commitment to strengthening global ethics standards and putting ethics at the heart of corporate decision-making," said IESBA Chair Gabriela Figueiredo Dias. "Our efforts in areas such as sustainability reporting and assurance and tax planning are prime examples of how we are addressing the evolving challenges and opportunities to enhance public trust and integrity in corporate reporting and in the work of professional accountants and assurance providers."

The 2023 IESBA Report also includes an interactive map showcasing the 140+ countries where the IESBA Code is in use and an overview of the Board’s extensive stakeholder outreach efforts and initiatives to promote global adoption and effective implementation of the Code.

Throughout 2023, the IESBA has responded vigorously to the challenges of ethics in the accountancy profession and beyond. The 2024 agenda will focus on final approvals of sustainability-related standards, new workstreams addressing accountancy firm culture and governance, and independence considerations for audits of collective investment vehicles, pension fund arrangements, and investment company complexes.

The full report can be accessed here.

About IESBA

The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants serves the public interest by setting high-quality ethics standards, including independence requirements, as a cornerstone to ethical behavior in business and organizations, and to public trust in financial and non-financial information that is fundamental to the proper functioning and sustainability of organizations, financial markets and economies worldwide.

Along with the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (“IAASB”), the IESBA is part of the International Foundation for Ethics and Audit (“IFEA”). The Public Interest Oversight Board (“PIOB”) oversees IESBA and IAASB activities and the public interest responsiveness of the standards.

This interactive review of 2023 features comprehensive accounts of the Board’s projects and insights from its leaders, illustrating a period of significant achievement, including the approval and subsequent launches of the Exposure Draft on International Ethics Standards for Sustainability Assurance (including International Independence Standards) (IESSA) and ethics standards for sustainability reporting and the final Ethics Standards for Tax Planning and Related Services. 2023 also saw the board approve an Exposure Draft on Using the Work of an External Exper

On behalf of the global accountancy profession, IFAC welcomes the opportunity to provide input to the IESSA ED. The global business community and the accountancy profession are at the start of significant transformation with respect to evolving sustainability disclosures. IESBA has an important role, like other standard setters, in this transformation.

We appreciate the significant resources and effort the Board has devoted to this important project. However, the actions of standard setters, regulators and policy makers must be undertaken and calibrated with the priority of being an effective influence on the transformation and by “bringing along relevant stakeholders” in the business community, including the accountancy profession, on this journey. It is important for the IESBA to be a positive influence in this transformation through the creation of practical, easily understandable, and sufficiently flexible standards.

Below are three key matters we urge IESBA to reconsider to enhance the practicality of implementation:

• Reducing complexity and calling for transparency from practitioners with respect to relevant, jurisdiction-specific sustainability assurance oversight and enforcement where they conduct engagements.
• Ensuring barriers to financial statement auditors providing sustainability assurance to the same client are removed.
• Addressing matters of practicality related to value chain considerations—i.e., through revision or removal of proposed requirements.

Click here to read the comment letter.

In order to significantly contribute to national economic and social development, PAOs around the world need a coherent strategy and operating model to realize their full potential. A strategic plan can guide and drive a PAO’s activities and priorities, determining where the organization is going, how it will get there, and how it will know if it gets there. 

New evidence came today of the global momentum toward sustainability disclosure. The International Sustainability Standard Board (ISSB) released a new guide to help jurisdictions adopt its sustainability reporting standards, S1 and S2, and announced that more than 20 jurisdictions have indicated plans to incorporate these standards into their legal or regulatory frameworks. These jurisdictions collectively represent nearly 55% of global GDP and more than 30% of global market capitalization.

Commenting on the release of the guide and the new data, Tom Seidenstein and Gabriela Figueiredo Dias, IAASB and IESBA Chairs, respectively, said, “On behalf of our Boards, we congratulate the ISSB on the release of its new adoption guide, which will help jurisdictions navigate the adoption journey and promote necessary consistency and quality for sustainability disclosure. As the IAASB and IESBA continue to progress our proposed standards on sustainability assurance and an ethics framework for sustainability reporting and assurance, we welcome all initiatives aiming at building the necessary capacity and understanding to achieve a consistent application of sustainability related standards, including assurance and ethics standards. Our collective goal is to strengthen stakeholders’ trust and confidence in disclosures.”